AFG vs BAN: Afghanistan Exploited the Surface Very Well, Says Mushfiqur Rahim

It was yet another sensational performance by the 19-year-old Rashid Khan, as Afghanistan managed to enforce a clean sweep on Bangladesh in the recently completed three matches Twenty20 International series.

Leg-spinner Rashid defended nine runs in the final over to hand Afghanistan a slender one-run victory. The Man of the Match award, however, went to Mushfiqur Rahim.

Wily customer missed out on the opportunity to bag his third consecutive Man of the Match Award. However, he was the Player of the series for his exploits and rightfully so.

It was Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai who won the toss for the first time in the series and opted to bat.

The opening duo of Mohammad Shehzad and Usman Ghai shared a fluent 55-run partnership before both fell in quick succession.

The Bangladesh bowlers bowled pretty well in the middle overs and never really allowed the Afghanistan batters to go hammers and tongs.

The skipper scored quickfire 27 of 17 deliveries which included three monstrous sixes.

Samiullah Shenwari also played a good hand of 33 runs which came in 28 deliveries. The big shots weren’t coming due to the tight bowling of Bangladesh.

Eventually, the hosts managed to finish their allotted 20 overs on 145. Nazmul Islam was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers bagging a couple.

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Bangladesh got off to the worst possible start losing first three wickets for just 35 runs. It was some sensational bowling by Mujeeb-ur-Rahman which prevented Bangladesh from scoring big in the powerplay.

Southpaw Tamim Iqbal was dismissed by Mujeeb while the wickets of Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar came in the form of run outs.

Shakib al Hasan was also dismissed pretty cheaply. Following his wicket, there was a brilliant partnership between Rahim and Mahmudullah.

Both batted sensibly and played some delightful shots in the process. They were there in the final over when Rashid was handed over the ball.

However, neither of them was able to get Rashid away. Afghanistan eventually won by a solitary run to take the series 3-0.

Now, this is what Man of the Match Mushfiqur Rahim said at the post-match presentation:

“We knew how the wicket would behave and we knew it was going to difficult on this track. We were few runs short in the final overs; you can’t expect 20-odd runs to be made in the second-last over. Congratulations to Afghanistan, they played well. It’s disheartening because even though we lost the series, we were playing for pride,” Rahim said at the presentation.

“I think 145-plus was a par score, especially with a bowling attack like Afghanistan. They exploited the surface very well, and they did well overall in the entire series. Mahmudullah and I managed to build a partnership, but we needed a few more boundaries I think. Even off the last ball, it could have gone either way, but I think these things happen in cricket and we’ll look to come back stronger next time,” he concluded.

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