Bangladesh withstand spirited Rashid to take 1-0 lead

Bangladesh managed to withstand a spirited effort from Rashid Khan to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series in Sharjah. Rashid almost pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a stunning four-fer to derail Bangladesh when they were cruising in the run chase before Nurul Hasan and Rishad Hossain saw them through.

Chasing just 152, Bangladesh got off to a cautious start scoring just 14 from the first three overs before the openers Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Parvez Hossain Emon opened up. The latter hit Mohammad Nabi for a couple of sixes and also received a couple of reprieves in the same over as Bangladesh knocked off 50 runs in the powerplay.

Tanzid Hasan then took charge post the powerplay as he hit a six each off Nabi and Noor Ahmad before both the openers cleared the ropes once each yet again to continue their assault. At this point, the result appeared to be a foregone conclusion as Bangladesh were 95/0 at the halfway mark. The duo brought up their respective fifties and were involved in a century stand before Fareed Ahmad gave Afghanistan an opening.

Rashid then capitalised on that opening big time by getting rid of Saif Hassan and Tanzid Hasan in the same over before picking two more wickets in his final over to stun the Bangladesh camp. Noor then joined the party by inflicting more damage in the following over as Bangladesh quite dramatically went from 109/0 to 118/6. While victory appeared to be in sight for Afghanistan at this point, Rishad and Nurul spoiled the party. They came up with timely boundaries to bring the equation down to 16 from 12 before Nurul slammed back-to-back sixes that helped Bangladesh seal the deal.

Earlier in the evening, Afghanistan struggled for most parts of their innings despite Ibrahim Zadran giving them a rollicking start with three boundaries in the opening over. They lost both their openers and Darwish Rasooli got run out to stutter at 33/3 by the end of the powerplay. Even though Rahmanullah Gurbaz looked in good touch, Bangladesh continued to chip away with the wickets.

Gurbaz's departure for 40 with a little over five overs to spare hurt Afghanistan as they had only four wickets remaining in the innings. However, the final three overs proved to be very productive. Nabi hammered three sixes in the 18th over before his departure and Sharafuddin Ashraf chipped in with a small cameo right at the end to drag Afghanistan past the 150 mark which almost proved to be enough when Bangladesh pressed the self-destruction button.

Brief scores: Afghanistan 151/9 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 40, Mohammad Nabi 38; Rishad Hossain 2/33) lost to Bangladesh 153/6 in 18.4 overs (Parvez Hossain Emon 54, Tanzid Hasan Tamim 51; Rashid Khan 4/18) by 4 wickets