Bangladesh VS Afghanistan T20 Series
Saleque Sufi
1st Match Played at Sylhet National Cricket Stadium on July 14, 2023
Afghanistan 154/7 in 20 Overs (Mohammad Nabi 54, Azmatullah Omarzai 33, Nazibullah Zadran 23, Shakib Al Hasan 2/31)
Bangladesh 157/8 in 19.5 Overs ( Tawhid Hridoy 47* , Shamim Hossain 33, Karim Janat 3/15 )
Bangladesh won the match by 2 wickets.
Player of The Match: Towhid Hridoy
On rain threatened Sylhet stadium in front capacity cheering crowd host Bangladesh deservedly won the first of the two matches T20I series by 2 wickets with 1 ball to spare.
The match witnessed exciting finish as Karim Janat coming to bowl the last over earned a hattrick removing Mehedi Miraj, Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed of successive deliveries. Shoriful struck the crucial boundary to peep the visitors off the post. Bangladesh won the match by 2 wickets with only 1 ball to spare.
The venom of the Afghan attack was a bit taken away as the ball moistened from wet outfield caused some issues for Afghan spinners gripping the ball. However, it was a very exciting match between the two very evenly matched teams. Bangladesh kept their advancement in T20 format going with young budding talent Tawhid Hridoy championing the with scoring unbeaten 47 in 32 deliveries and partnering with another exciting prospect Shamim Hossain in the 5th wicket adding valuable 73 runs.
Bangladesh leads the 2 matches series 1-0. The second match will be played in the same venue of 16 July. This was the 4th win of Bangladesh over strong Afghanistan in 10 matches in the head to head contest.
Afghanistan was put to bat after Shakib won the toss. The tourists had all their top notch T20 stars in the team and was considered pre match favorites. They also had the confidence after winning the ODI series. But Bangladesh off course had the confidence from winning the past two T20 home series against England and Ireland.
Bangladesh bowlers Nasum, Taskin , Shoriful under able leading from the front captain did not let the flamboyant Afghan top order batsmen Gurbaz , Zazai and Zadran to tee off. At 4/52 Afghans had to rescued from a tight corner by veteran all rounder Mohammad Nabi ( 54) featuring in two useful partnership first with Nazibullah Zadran (23) and then Azmatullah Omarzai (33). 154/7 on the slow gripping wicket appeared challenging at innings break.
Bangladesh top order also failed to click as Rony Talukdar (4), Nazmul Shanto (14), Litton K Das (18) and Shakib Al Hasan (19) could not do much. Bangladesh at 4/64 in 10.1 overs was not looking good. But talented Tawhid Hridoy (47*) and Shamim Hossain (33) striking 73 runs 5th wicket appeared cruising. The excitement grew as the match rolled to the last over. Karim Janat removing Miraj, Taskin and Nasum off successive deliveries ignited the terrace. Shoriful however striking a crucial boundary on the penultimate ball of the match won it for the hosts. The match-winning unbeaten 47 off 32 deliveries by budding genius Tawhid Hridoy featured 3 fours and 2 sixes.
The young Bangladesh team continued the ever-improving graph going in their earlier weaker format. The home crowd enjoyed every minute of the match staying late defying rain interruptions.
BDST: 0750 HRS, JULY 15, 2023
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