Bangladesh won the three-match ODI series by a margin of 2-1 against Afghanistan despite visitors’ impressive win in the third and final one-dayer in Chattogram on February 28.
In pain over their successive defeats in the previous two games, Afghanistan came out all guns blazing. The tourists dismissed Bangladesh for a paltry 192 in 46.5 overs, before chasing the modest 193-run target with seven wickets intact and nearly 10 overs remaining.
Bangladesh collapsed from a position of strength at 104/1 and lost their last nine wickets for only 88 runs. Last game’s centurion Liton Das continued his rich form by top-scoring with a 86 but rest of the Bangladeshi batting crumbled to some high-class spin bowling from Rashid Khan (3/37) and Mohammad Nabi (2/29).
In the run-chase, wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz struck a fantastic hundred (106) to guide Afghanistan through to the winning post alongside No.4 Rahmat Shah (47). It was Gurbaz’s third ODI hundred in what was only his ninth 50-over fixture for Afghanistan. Mehidy Hasan (2/37) was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh.
Afghanistan’s win also secured 10 points for them in the ICC Super League from a series where Bangladesh bagged 20 through their successive victories in the first two encounters.
The first was closer than the second. Afghanistan reduced Bangladesh to 45/6 in the run-chase of 216 and looked like bossing the game despite their indifferent batting performance. However, an excellent seventh-wicket stand Afif Hossain (93*) and Mehidy (81*) allowed Bangladesh to regain their foot in the contest and eventually coast home.
Fazalhaq Farooqi (4/54) was the star performer with the new ball for Afghanistan, who required a fighting half-century (67) from Najibullah Zadran to cross the 200-mark in the first half where pacers Mustafizur Rahman (3/35) and Shoriful Islam (2/38) bowled brilliantly.
Bangladesh had a straightforward victory in the second one-dayer, posting a daunting 306/4 in their 50 overs with Liton’s fantastic hundred (136) and Mushfiqur Rahim’s critical 86, before Taskin Ahmed (2/31) and Shakib Al Hasan (2/38) drowned Afghanistan with the ball. Najibullah (54) and Rahmat (52) were the only visiting batters to take the fight back to the opposition, with their team collapsing to 218 all out.
