All-rounder Mohammad Nabi’s brilliant 54-ball 85 steered Afghanistan to a challenging total of 164/6 in the third tri-series T20 match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday (Sunday). The total already was really competitive for Tigers to chase, keeping in mind Afghanistan's bowling prowess.
After winning the toss Afghan skipper Rashid Khan, opted to bat first. Both teams went with unchanged XIs. Bangladesh were off to a flyer as they picked up three wickets in quick succession. Mohammad Saifuddin rattled Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s (0) stumps in the very first ball of the innings. It was a peach of a delivery around the off-stump line, hinted of away swing and the batsman got squared up on his defense. The ball whizzed past his outside edge and knocked over the off-stump.
Shakib Al Hasan came to bowl in the second over and removed danger-man Hazratullah Zazai (1). Saifuddin struck again in the third over as he dismissed Najeeb Tarakai (11), leaving Afghanistan crumbling at 19/3 after 3 overs.
Wickets kept on tumbling as Nazibullah Zadran, the highest scorer in the last match against Zimbabwe couldn’t do much harm this time around. Shakib bagged his second and removed Zadran (5) in the sixth over. After the end of the batting powerplay, Afghanistan were struggling at 41/4.
Tigers’ bowlers were maintaining good line and length, which made it difficult for Afghan batsmen to score runs with ease. Two experience Afghan campaigners Ashgar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi tried to steady the Afghan ship. They were knocking the ball around and moving the scoreboard. They started to rebuild the Afghan innings and picked up their 50-run partnership in 43 balls. Especially, Nabi was batting really well and put the pressure back on Tigers.
Afghanistan were looking to finish on a high with these two on the crease. Taijul then removed Asghar in the 14th over of the match, however the wicket was cancelled because of a no ball. Asghar (39) got another life but couldn’t make full use of it as he was removed by Saifuddin. Asghar-Nabi’s 79-run alliance for the fifth wicket stand was finally broken. Saifuddin was on fire and picked up another wicket as he bowled Gulabdin for a duck, leaving Afghanistan at 121/6 after 17 overs.
After that Nabi’s destructive batting started. He picked up his well-deserved half century from 41 balls. Then started to hit the ball all around the ground and was taking his team towards a challenging total. He smashed Soumya in the 18th over and scored 22 runs, which was damaging for Tigers. Nabi remained unbeaten at 84. His stormy innings included 3 fours and 7 maximums. Saifuddin was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers as he scalped 4 wickets. Shakib bagged a brace.
