Lahore. Centuries from openers Mehdi Hasan Miraz (retired Hurt on 112) and Nazmul Hasan Shanto (104) and a 194-run partnership between them helped Bangladesh beat Afghanistan in their Asia Cup Group B match on Sunday. For the third wicket. Beating KK by 89 runs kept their hopes of reaching the Super Four intact.
After scoring 334 runs for five wickets, Bangladesh wrapped up Afghanistan’s innings for 245 runs in 44.3 overs. For Bangladesh, Taskin Ahmed took four wickets, Shariful Islam took three wickets while Miraj and Hasan Mahmood took one wicket each. Afghanistan will have to beat Sri Lanka by a wide margin to reach the Super Four.
For Afghanistan, opener Ibrahim Zadran scored 75 runs off 74 balls and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi scored 51 runs off 61 balls. Both shared a partnership of 52 runs for the third wicket. Ibrahim hit 10 fours and a six in his innings and shared a 78-run partnership with Rahmat Shah (33) for the second wicket.
After losing the opening match against Sri Lanka, in an almost do-or-die match for the team, Mirage hit three sixes and seven fours in his 119-ball innings, while Shanto, who scored a half-century against Sri Lanka, in a 105-ball innings. Hit 10 fours and two sixes. Captain Shakib-ul-Hasan (32 not out off 23 balls) and Mushfiqur Rahim (25 off 15 balls) batted aggressively in the last overs to take the team to 334. Almost all of Afghanistan’s bowlers proved costly. Mujeeb ur Rahman took 62 runs and Gulbuddin Naib took one wicket each for 58 runs. Three batsmen of Bangladesh were run out.
Chasing the target, the Afghanistan team suffered a major setback in the second over. Aggressive batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz was bowled for one run in Shariful. After this, Zadran got the good support of Rahmat Shah. Meanwhile, Zadran hit Taskin Ahmed for two fours in the third over but Rahmat was batting very cautiously as the team was reduced to just 37 runs after 10 overs. Captain Hasmatullah Shahidi led the team with a half-century but after his dismissal, the team fell apart.
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Tags: Asia Cup
First published: September 04, 2023, 01:04 IST