While Rashid Khan once again starred in Afghanistan’s victory in the second T20I against Bangladesh at Dehradun, the nation creates a history after securing the T20I series on Tuesday night. In the second T20I of three-match T20I series, Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by 6 wickets with 7 balls to spare.
While Bangladesh lost the first game in this T20I series by 45 runs on Sunday night, their captain Shakib Al Hasan decided to bat first after winning the toss in this crucial second T20I game. While opener Liton Das (1 run) and no.3 batsman Sabbir Rahman (13 runs) were dismissed cheaply, another opener Tamim Iqbal fought hard to shape that innings.
Along with the wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim put a 45-run partnership for the third wicket. But since that partnership was broken, Bangladesh batting again faced a huge collapse despite Tamim continued his innings. Mushfiqur was dismissed on 22 runs while Mahmudullah scored only 14 runs.
In the 16th over, skipper Shakib (3 runs) and opener Tamim (43 runs) lost their wickets. At the end of the innings, Abu Hider played an important cameo as he was unbeaten on 21 runs off 14 balls (only four and two sixes). Bangladesh only managed to score 134/8 at the end of 20 overs.
Rashid Khan again impressed with his leg-spin bowling as his bowling figure was 4-0-12-4. Also, Mohammad Nabi (2/19) picked up two wickets while Shapoor Zadran (1/42) and Karim Janat (1/40) claimed one wicket each.
In reply, Samiullah Shenwari’s 49-run knock (41 balls) and Mohammad Nabi’s unbeaten 31-run knock (15 balls) proved enough for Afghanistan to secure a historic moment by winning the game 6 wickets with 7 balls to spare. They chased down that target successfully in 18.5 overs after losing four wickets.
Before the 19th over, Afghanistan needed a challenging 20 runs in just 12 balls while Mohammad Nabi was batting on 11 runs off 10 balls with the new batsman Shafiqullah. While Rubel Hossain was bowling in that 19th over, Nabi hit a four and a six in the first two respective deliveries. After Nabi failed to score a run in the third delivery, he hit another four and sixer in the next two respective deliveries and sealed the game.
Among the Bangladeshi bowlers, Mosaddek Hossain (2/21) got two wickets while Rubel Hossain (1/38) and Abu Hider (1/14) picked up a wicket each.
Rashid Khan once again won the Player of the Match award after showing another destructive performance with the ball.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh – 134/8 in 20 overs (Tamim Iqbal 43, Mushfiqur Rahim 22, Rashid Khan 4/12)
Afghanistan – 135/4 in 18.5 overs (Samiullah Shenwari 49, Mohammad Nabi 31*, Mosaddek Hossain 2/21)
Result – Afghanistan won by 6 wickets
Important Stats Review:
- First bilateral series victory for Afghanistan against Bangladesh.
- After Zimbabwe, Bangladesh became the second Test-playing nation to suffer an international bilateral series defeat against Afghanistan.
