Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan continued his superb bowling performances in the ongoing three-match bilateral T20I series against Bangladesh at Dehradun. After the first match, his bowling led the side to the victory in the second T20I too as he received two back-to-back Player of the Match awards and the team secured the T20I series by leading 2-0.
While Rashid Khan had a bowling figure of 3/13 in the first T20I, he became more lethal in the second T20I as his bowling figure in that game was 4/12. In the second T20I, Rashid dismissed four important batsmen Tamim Iqbal, skipper Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar and Mosaddek Hossain.
In the post-match press conference, Rashid said about his performance, “This is what the team expects (from me). This is the plan given to me, to bowl in the middle and end overs. I was mentally ready and wanted to bowl in the good-length areas.
“It was crucial, the wickets of Shakib (Al Hasan), Tamim (Iqbal), Mosaddek (Hossain) and Soumya (Sarkar). They are key players. We know how good they are, so we wanted to keep things simple and focus on the basics.”
The Afghan spinners bowled very well in the game as they restricted Bangladesh to just 134/8 (20 overs) at the end of the first innings. In reply, Afghanistan reached the target in 18.5 overs after losing 4 wickets, thanks to Mohammad Nabi’s unbeaten 31 runs and Samiullah Shenwari’s 49-run knock.
After that victory, Afghan captain Asghar Stanikzai said, “We knew our strengths, that’s why I was confident. Mujeeb, Nabi and Rashid showed what they are capable of. On this surface, where there was turn, they did very well.”
Stanikzai also heavily pleased with the Dehradun crowd supports as he mentioned that it was like “playing in Kabul”.
On the other hand, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan blamed their poor batting performances for their defeat in the second T20I of the ongoing series.
He said on that, “We bowled and fielded well, but were 15-20 short. We kept losing wickets after a good start. They kept up the pressure in the middle overs and we kept on losing wickets. That’s where we lost. I thought our seamers executed well. In this sort of wicket, it’s hard to defend 135, but credit to the way we fought out.”
Shakib also praised Rashid Khan and the other Afghan spinners for their impressive bowling efforts.
Shakib quoted on that, “Rashid bowled really well. They have some world-class spinners, who are doing their job. We have to come up with better plans to handle them and put up better totals with the bat.”
