(ESPN Cricinfo) – Substitute wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil had dropped Najmul Hossain Shanto on 21, Mohammad Nabi had put Mehidy Hasan Miraz down on 1, Gulbadin Naib had seen the ball slip through his hands with Mehidy on 4, and Afghanistan had used both their reviews.
At the halfway mark of their chase, Bangladesh were 118 away from their target of 236 and had eight wickets in hand.
What followed was chaos, as AM Ghazanfar sent back one Bangladesh batter after another. From 120 for 2 in the 26th over, Bangladesh lost 8 for 23 to get bowled out inside the 35th over and lost by 92 runs. Ghazanfar finished with a career-best 6 for 26, while Rashid Khan bagged two wickets as Afghanistan’s spinners ran through Bangladesh.
It was Mohammad Nabi, though, who started the slide. In a field change that turned out to be a moment of brilliance, he kept square leg vacant and added a second slip for Shanto. Bangladesh’s captain was tempted immediately and went sweeping at a length ball slightly wide of the off stump. He reached out to paddle sweep, and the top edge popped up for Hashmatullah Shahidi to catch on the fourth attempt at short fine leg.
That broke a 55-run stand between Shanto, who made 47, and Mehidy. The wicket slowed Bangladesh down, and five overs later, in the 31st, Mehidy fell to a terrific catch from Azmatullah Omarzai, again at short fine leg, running across to his left before diving to complete the take. That was Ghazanfar’s second wicket – he had earlier bowled Tanzid Hasan in the fourth over – and that almost flicked a switch in him.
Come the 33rd over, he had Mushfiqur Rahim stumped, Rishad Hossain lbw, and Taskin Ahmed bowled – all off carrom balls. In the over before that, Rashid’s googly had cleaned Mahmudullah up. By this stage, the only matter of interest was if Ghazanfar would complete his hat-trick after having gotten Rishad and Tasking off successive deliveries to end the over. Bangladesh had two wickets standing, and Rashid cleaned Towhid Hridoy up with another googly.
Ghazanfar couldn’t get the hat-trick at the start of the 35th over, but two balls later had Shoriful Islam bowled to wrap up a dramatic win.
Afghanistan’s victory was set up by two contrasting knocks after they were 71 for 5 in 20 overs. While Shahidi played second fiddle in an innings of 52 from 92 balls, Nabi cracked 84 off 79 deliveries. Their partnership of 104 gave Afghanistan a platform to build on after Mustafizur Rahman had struck three times and Taskin twice.
While Shahidi was happy to be patient and accumulate singles, Nabi started with a lot more purpose. He dispatched his sixth ball, off Rishad, for a massive six over deep midwicket – a shot he repeated off the same bowler with the same result in the 27th over. In between, Bangladesh lost a review when Rishad and Mushfiqur thought Shahidi had edged behind, only for replays to show a big gap between bat and ball.
The fifty stand between Shahidi and Nabi came up in the 30th over. Then Nabi enjoyed a spate of luck. First, when on 37 in the 34th over, he went sweeping at Rishad but was struck on his front pad, with neither the umpire giving it out nor Bangladesh opting to review, when DRS would have sent Nabi back. In the 37th, shortly after bringing up his fifty, Nabi slogged Rishad but mistimed, the ball landing just short of the man at long-off who was running forward. In the next over, Nabi went jabbing at a ball from Mahmudullah and got an outside edge that streaked away through the vacant slip region.
Shahidi, meanwhile, took 87 deliveries to get to fifty, remaining content to push for singles and twos.
He survived a tight run-out chance at the start of the 40th over when he pushed the ball to point and the two batters took off for a run. But Shahidi, who was halfway down, was sent back by Nabi and barely made it before Mushfiqur whipped the bails off.
However, he chopped on off Mustafizur in the 41st, and Rashid swatted one to midwicket off Shoriful soon after. But Nabi was unmoved. He took Afghanistan to 200 with four overs remaining and heaved Mustafizur for six over midwicket in the 47th over. Nangeyalia Kharote, who arrived after Rashid’s dismissal, contributed an unbeaten 27, with two fours and a six in the death overs, even as Taskin struck off back-to-back balls in the 48th.
Taskin and Mustafizur finished with four wickets each, as Bangladesh restricted Afghanistan to 235.
