Afghanistan ended the Group B of the Asia Cup 2022 with a clean sweep, backing their stellar victory over Sri Lanka with an impressive win against Bangladesh on August 28 to become the first team to enter the Super 4 stage. The tournament dark horses were propelled to the finish line in a low-scoring thriller in Sharjah by their middle-order batters Ibrahim Zadran and Najibullah Zadran.
Chasing a tricky target of 128 on a dry, spin-friendly surface in Sharjah’s first game of the competition, Afghanistan reached home with seven wickets intact and nearly 10 balls remaining in the innings. The Afghans found themselves in a spot of bother at one stage, requiring over 10 runs an over for the death-overs phase.
But then Najibullah showcased his prowess for the Kabul warriors and used his strong technical base to blast the Bangladeshi seamers to all corners for maximum after another. In total, he hit six of those through his match-winning 43 not out off just 17 balls, making a telling difference in the end outcome.
Najibullah took Afghanistan home when they were staring at a dangerous hole with their chase, placed at 62/3 at the end of the 13th over when the elegant left-hander joined his more sedate partner in Ibrahim. The right-hander, considered one of the brightest young talents in Afghanistan, produced a measured knock of 42 off 41 deliveries at his end.
While it helped that he found a powerhitter of Najibullah’s quality and range at the other end, Ibrahim played a big role in ensuring the Bangladeshi spinners couldn’t build inroads into his team’s batting in the initial 15 overs of the run-chase.
Afghanistan struggled to put the ball off the square for the three-fourth of their batting effort, with last match’s heroes Hazratullah Zazai (23) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (11) struggling at the crease and skipper Mohammad Nabi (8), too, getting out early.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan (1/13) was the stand-out bowler for Bangladesh in an innings where off-spinner Mahedi Hasan (0/26) delivered another of his tight spells. Where the Bangladeshis lost the game was in the final five overs, in which they were demolished by the Najibullah assault. They were let down by pacers Mustafizur Rahman (0/30) and Mohammad Saifuddin (1/27), who failed to execute their plans against the rampaging Afghan left-hander.
Bangladesh would’ve been left to rue another of their insipid batting performances in T20Is in the first half, finishing with a score of only 127 for 7 in their 20 overs. In a horrible scorecard, it required the Bangla Tigers a gem of a knock from Mosaddek Hossain to inch over the 120-mark.
He produced an unbeaten 48 off 31 when the rest of the Bangladeshi unit barely scored over run-a-ball. In a fruitful encounter for him, he later delivered a spell of 1/12 in the second half.
Afghanistan once again rallied on their bowling arsenal to assert a position of control and dominance in the game. While it was their seamers who set the ball rolling against Sri Lanka, this time, it was the spinners who left Bangladesh in tatters.
There were two stand-out performers for them, with young Mujeeb ur Rahman bagging three wickets for 16 off his 4 overs and Rashid Khan finishing with figures of 3 for 22 off his quota. Promising left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi didn’t get amongst the wickets but proved a handful again with a restrictive spell of 0 for 23 off his four, forcing the opposition to take risks against his team’s much-vaunted spin attack.
Brief scores
Bangladesh 127/7 in 20 overs (Hossain 48*; Rahman 3/16, Khan 3/22) lost to Afghanistan 131/3 in 18.3 overs (Zadran 43*, Zadran 42*; Shakib 1/13) by 7 wickets
