Nerves of steel were required by Mustafizur Rahman and the rest of the Bangladesh team as they beat Afghanistan by three runs to keep their chances of qualifying for the final in their own hands.
Requiring just eight runs off the last over Mustafizur gave away just four to earn win for his team.
Chasing 250, Afghanistan got off to a woeful start as they lost two wickets in next to no time. It was up to Mohammad Shahzad who added 63 for the third wicket with Hashmatullah Shahidi to get the innings back on track. After that captain Asghar Afghan joined Shahidi and added 78 for the fourth wicket.
Mohammad Nabi gave innings the impetus along with Samiullah Shenwari and that should have carried the Afghans over the line but it wasn’t to be as the Bangla Tigers pulled back their opponents.
Earlier, batting first, Bangladesh posted a commanding total of 249/7 in their 50 overs. Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes were the stars of the show for the Tigers as they slammed respective fifties to take their team to a more than competitive score in the match
Bangladesh didn’t enjoy the best of starts in the match as Aftam Alam got rid of Nazmul Hossain Shanto (6) in the fifth over of the innings. Mohammad Mithun was the next batsman to depart as he was trapped LBW by spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 1.
Liton Das was joined by Mushfiqur Rahim in the middle and the duo put on a 63-run stand for the third wicket.
The partnership was finally ended by Rashid Khan, who got rid of Liton Das 41. Impatience and catastrophic running between the wickets got the better of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim as both the batsmen were run-out in a span of 11 deliveries.
Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes then joined forces at the crease and the duo steadied the ship with some cautious batting.
Both completed their respective half-centuries and put on a century stand for the sixth wicket. This was the first 100-run partnership between the pair and fourth century stand for sixth wicket by Bangladesh.
Mahmudullah departed for 74 in the dying overs of the game, but Kayes continued to hit boundaries and helped Bangladesh finish at 249/7 in the allotted overs.
First Published: Sep 24, 2018 01:27 IST
Source: HindustanTimes