- Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Rashid were stars with the ball-before Najibullah and Ibrahim stunned Bangladesh in the chase
Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets in the second group B match and third match of the grand Asia Cup 2022 at Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. Spinners Mujeeb-ur-Rahman (3/16 of 4 ov) and Rashid Khan (3/22 of 4 ov) helped Afghanistan to stop Bangladesh at 127/7 in 20 overs, while during the chase, Afghanistan batters Najibullah Zadran (43 off 17 balls; not out) and Ibrahim Zadran (42 off 41 balls; not out) stunned opposition in the chase and took their team to victory as 131/3 in 18.3 overs. Following this win, Afghanistan qualified for the super 4 round of the tournament and took lead in the group B points table with 4 points.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and decided to bat first. Bangladesh’s start was very poor as the Afghanistani spinner picked their three wickets within 24 runs in 5.2 overs. Opener Mohammad Naim was out on his 6 and team’s 7 scores in the last ball of the second over of the game, and just after him, Anamul Haque went at 13 scores of the team. Thereafter, skipper and all-rounder star Shakib Al Has was out at his 11 runs and 24 scores of the team. Soon after Mujeeb, Rashid Khan another Afghan spinner started dominating and picked Mushfiqur Rahim’s wicket at 28 scores of Bangladesh.
Finally, middle-order batters Mahmudullah (25 off 27 balls) and all-rounder Mosaddek Hossain (48 off 31 balls; not out) handled Bangladesh’s inning and took their team to a respective score of 127/7 in 20 overs. Mosaddek hit 4 fours and 1 beautiful six.
Opener Hazratullah23 off 26 balls and Gurbaz 11 off 18 balls, gave a good start to Afghanistan, and then Najibullah and Ibrahim stunned Bangladesh and easily chased the winning target of 131 in 18.3 overs with the loss of three wickets. Najibullah scored 43 off 17 balls including 1 four and 6 huge sixes, while Ibrahim scored 42 of 41 balls including 4 fours. Mohammad Nabi scored 8 off 9 balls.
Brief scoreboard of Bangladesh vs Afghanistan match:
Bangladesh- 127/7 in 20 ov
Afghanistan- 131/3 in 18.5 ov(won the match by 7 wickets and 9 balls left)
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