Saif Hassan stars as Bangladesh complete series sweep

Bangladesh clean swept Afghanistan 3-0 in the T20I series with a resounding six-wicket win in the chase of 144, with two overs to spare. After a collective bowling display led by Mohammad Saifuddin (3 for 15) restricted Bangladesh to 143 for 9, the in-form Saif Hassan smashed 64 off 38 deliveries to take his side to victory. It is only the fourth time in T20I history that Bangladesh have clean swept an opposition in the format.

Afghanistan's woes at the top continued after being asked to bat first. Despite bringing back Rahmanullah Gurbaz to open and Sediqullah Atal dropping down to No.3, the sides low string of PowerPlay scores continued. After scoring 33, and 35 in the first two games, the Afghan openers could muster only 39 in the third game. In fact, the openers had gotten the team off to a good start with 20 coming off the first two overs but both Ibrahim Zadran and Gurbaz fell in the third and fourth over, after which Afghanistan could muster only 19 more to their PowerPlay score. The first six overs also saw the dismissal of Wafiullah Tarakhil.

Rishad Hossain bowled a 16-run over as the Afghans tried to wrestle back momentum after the first six. Atal hit a six but a quiet over from Nasum Ahmed added to the pressure. It led to the southpaws departure at the hands of Saifuddin (his second after picking Tarakhil) as Afghanistan fell further down the barrel. The spin-duo of Rishad and Nasum accounted for Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi respectively. It only got worse for Afghanistan as Tanzim Hasan Sakib picked up Rashid Khan and Abdullah Ahmamdzai off back-to-back deliveries to reduce them to 98 for 8. But Darwish Rasooli and Mujeeb Ur Rahman hit some quickfire boundaries in the death overs to register a quick 34-run partnership and propel Afghanistan to a decent score of 143.

In the chase, Bangladesh began slowly against Mujeeb and Omarzai. Parvez Hossain Emon was kept quiet with a 16-ball 14 before the latter picked him up as Afghanistan eyed quick wickets. But that thought deserted them quickly as Saif began with a four and a six. Bashir Ahmad conceded a four and a six in his second over as Bangladesh raced to 47 in the PowerPlay. Consecutive boundaries off Rashid Khan continued to put Bangladesh in the ascendancy. Both Saif and Tanzid hit a six each as Bangladesh were well above the asking rate at the halfway mark at 79 for 1.

Ahmadzai scalped Tanzid immediately after the drinks break as Afghanistan eyed a route back into the game. But Ahmadzai's following over turned out to be an expensive one. Saif Hassan hit three fours and a six as Ahmadzai conceded 22 with Bangladesh racing past the 100-run mark. Mujeeb however, kept Afghanistan in it as he picked up two wickets in his last over including that of the in-form Shamim Hossain for a golden duck before a maiden from Rashid followed.

Saif denied Afghanistan from causing a twist in the tale with back-to-back sixes as the batter brought up his 50 in a 17-run over. Saif and Nurul Hasan tonked Ahmadzai for a six each as Bangladesh completed a historic series sweep.

Brief Scores:Afghanistan 143/9 in 20 overs (Darwish Rasooli 32, Sediqullah Atal 28; Mohammad Saifuddin 3-15, Nasum Ahmed 2-24) lost to Bangladesh 144/4 in 18 overs (Saif Hassan 64*, Tanzid Hasan Tamim 33; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-26, Azmatullah Omarzai 1-12) by six wickets