On September 3 in Lahore, Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan by 89 runs in a game they needed to win in order to keep their Asia Cup hopes alive. The highlight of the victory was that it was helmed by Bangladesh’s gen-next talents; Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto scored centuries with the bat to set it up before Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed did the damage later with the ball to extinguish Afghanistan’s aspirations. The victory margin effectively confirmed Bangladesh’s advancement to the Super 4s.
Mehidy and Najmul’s 194-run stand for the third wicket on a favorable batting surface enabled Bangladesh to amass an above-average total. As Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das were absent from the tournament, the former was promoted to open the batting as a stopgap measure. The all-rounder performed admirably as he skillfully managed his innings to score a century. Initially, he was the passive companion while Najmul bowled, but once the field was set, runs were scored from both ends.
Afghanistan was extremely nervous from the beginning. They spread the new ball around quite a bit, allowing the Bangladesh batsmen to settle in, and their spinners were unable to work their usual wizardry on a pitch that lacked any significant turn. Mohammad Naim and Towhid Hridoy both perished after getting off to a good start, but Bangladesh’s batting performance was otherwise a breeze. Afghanistan’s star leg-spinner Rashid Khan had an off day, returning wicketless and conceding more than 6 runs per over, both of which are extremely unusual for the leggie.
A hand injury ultimately forced Mehidy to retire injured after reaching three figures, and Najmul soon wore himself out, but the platform laid by the duo allowed Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan to exercise their biceps in the tail. For a change, the senior pair was able to bat without duress, and they chose to bowl to push the score past 330 runs.
Afghanistan needed a good start to make a game out of such a large pursuit, but this did not occur. Shoriful was on fire with the new ball, and his early dismissal of Rahmanullah Gurbaz severely damaged Afghanistan’s chances of victory. Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah joined forces to form a partnership, but their scoring rate was insufficient to track down the target. Even Rahmat found it difficult to rotate his strike. Ibrahim was able to transfer gears, but by that time, the mission had reached monstrous proportions. Both batters succumbed to the duress, and the chase slowed.
Afghanistan’s captain Hashmatullah Shahidi scored fifty to maintain a semblance of a fight, but they were always at a disadvantage. They needed their commander to bat deep and also needed Najibullah Zadran to ignite but neither happened. Taskin, who also bowled an equally remarkable spell with the new ball, returned to take wickets, and only a few strikes from Rashid delayed the inevitable.
Afghanistan has a slim chance of avoiding elimination, but they must defeat Sri Lanka by a significant margin in order for their net run rate to surpass that of the Islanders. In both scenarios, Bangladesh is unaffected and through.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 334/5 in 50 (Mehidy Hasan Miraz 112, Najmul Hossain Shanto 104, Shakib Al Hasan 32*) beat Afghanistan 245 in 44.3 (Ibrahim Zadran 75, Hashmatullah Shahidi 51; Taskin Ahmed 4-44, Shoriful Islam 3-36) by 89 runs.
