Sylhet [Bangladesh],: Shakib Al Hasan led from the front as his all-round performance with bat and ball provided Bangladesh a two-match T20I series victory over Afghanistan after they won rain affected second T20I match by six-wickets on Sunday in Sylhet.
Hasan took two wickets conceding 15 runs and scored crucial 18 (11) runs in the match. Taskin Ahmed also picked three wickets by conceding 33 runs.
Chasing a low target of 119 set by DLS, Bangladesh’s openers Litton Das and Afif Hossain started off aggressively as they collected 19 runs in the second over of the innings. The duo added 50 runs to the board in 5 overs.
Afghanistan did a comeback in the 10th over when Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed Litton Das who was batting 35 (36) and in the same over cleared up Afif Hossain at 24 (20).
Azmatullah Omarzai then picked the wicket of Najmul Hossain in the 11th over. However, Bangladesh’s experienced batter Shakib Al Hasan took the responsibility and completed the chase in 16.1 over.
For Afghanistan Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Azmatullah Omarzai picked two scalps each by conceding 28 and 17 runs respectivly.
Batting first, Afghanistan lost early wicket as Taskin Ahmed dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz to take his 50th T20I scalp.
Taskin was on his fine form as he again struck the wickets, this time he made Hazratullah Zazai his target. Afghan batters Ibrahim Zadran and Mohammad Nabi were trying to steer the innings but rain halted the match for more than one hour.
When Afghanistan resumed the batting, they were struggling to score runs and in result, Mohammad Nabi got out on Mustafizur Rahman’s bowling after scoring 16 (22).
Najibullah Zadran started his innings with counter attack as he punched next ball for the four and also hit six in the same over. But his innings did not last long, he was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan at 22 (27). Hasan quickly cleared up another wicket, dismissing Najibullah Zadran.
Azmatullah Omarzai and Karim Janat then hit few boundaries as Afghanistan reached to 100 run mark in 14 overs.
Afghan failed to cope up with their early wickets. After losing two more wickets in last overs of Azmatullah Omarzai and Karim Janat respectively, they gave the target of 116/7 in 17 overs.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 116/7 (Litton Das 35, Afif Hossain 24, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-28) vs Bangladesh 119/4 (Azmatullah Omarzai 25, Ibrahim Zadran 22, Taskin Ahmed 3-33).