Afghanistan demolish Bangladesh in 200-run win

Afghanistan registered a resounding 200-run win over Bangladesh, in the third ODI between the two sides. Afghanistan bounced back from a 3-0 defeat in the T20I series to inflict a similar scoreline on Bangladesh in 50-over games. It is Afghanistan's fifth ODI series win on the bounce. After Afghanistan posted a mammoth 293 for 9, spearheaded by Ibrahim Zadran's 95 and Mohammad Nabi's 37-ball 62, Bangladesh could muster only 93 as Bilal Sami picked up a five-fer.

On a dry pitch, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim put on a 99-run opening stand in little more than 15 overs to give their team a solid foundation. They were at their aggressive best at the start with 66 runs coming off the first PowerPlay and found high returns against Nahid Rana and Hasan Mahmud. The troika of spinners slowed things down and the build up of pressure led to Gurbaz's wicket off Tanvir Islam.

Ibrahim moved to 50 after the fall of Gurbaz and then turned aggressor as he smashed Mehidy Hasan Miraz for a six and a four in the 'V'. They moved to 150 in 25 overs while Sediqullah Atal found consecutive boundaries against Rana. It was Saif Hassan who got rid of Atal in a wicket-maiden, before he followed it up with the scalp of captain Hashmatullah Shahidi. The big fish, Ibrahim, was run-out on 95 after a direct-hit from Rana caught him short of his crease. It was the second time in a row Ibrahim fell on 95.

The Afghan innings continued to derail as Saif picked up the third left-hander of the top-five in the form of Ikram Alikhil. Azmatullah Omarzai fell after finding three quick boundaries before Rashid Khan walked in to hit a first-ball six. But Rashid played only five more deliveries before falling to Mehidy.

With the overs ticking, Nabi was on 17 off 23, with 47 overs bowled and found his first six off Hasan in the 48th over. But back-to-back wickets meant that Nabi was suddenly batting with No.11 Sami. Nahid started the 49th over well but walked off injured. Mehidy, who came in to close the over, was smashed for three sixes and also conceded five-wides in a 25-run 49th over. Nabi denied Hasan his hat-trick and then bludgeoned him for three fours and a six as he registered his 18th ODI 50. Nabi scored 45 off the last 14 balls he faced.

The Nabi blitzkrieg stunned Bangladesh, but the team began steadily in the chase with Saif finding some boundaries in the PowerPlay to get the innings moving. But Mohammad Naim fell to Omarzai in the ninth over before the screws came loose for Bangladesh.

Saif continued to find sixes off AM Ghazanfar but Sami struck in his first over before Rashid followed it up with a wicket off his first ball. The Afghan skipper then picked up his second with the wicket of Saif. Including Saif's wicket, Afghanistan picked up five between the 19th and 22nd over, triggering a collapse from 70/3 to 81/8. Sami then wrapped up Bangladesh's abject batting order with his maiden ODI five-fer to give Afghanistan a resounding win. With 43, only Saif reached double-digits for Bangladesh with the bat.

Brief Scores: Afghanistan 293/9 in 50 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 95, Mohammad Nabi 62*; Saif Hassan 3-6, Tanvir Islam 2-46) beat Bangladesh 93 in 27.1 overs (Saif Hassan 43, Hasan Mahmud 9; Bilal Sami 5-33, Rashid Khan 3-12) by 200 runs