Salauddin Ahmed: In Sharjah, Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan by 2 wickets in the second T20 match. Nurul Hasan Sohan played a brilliant innings, and with one match still remaining, the Tigers guaranteed the series win.
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to field. Bangladesh’s openers — Sedikullah Atal and Ibrahim Zadran — put on 55 runs together. But Atal was dismissed for 23 by Rishad, breaking the partnership. At a team total of 71, Zadran (38) was dismissed by Nasum, giving Nasum the second wicket. In the next over, Rishad dismissed Tarakhil for his second wicket.
Soon after, Nasum sent back Darwish Rasoli to his hut, picking another wicket. At 90, Afghanistan had lost four wickets and were under pressure. However, Gurbaz tried to anchor the innings, but after scoring 30 off 22 balls, he got out to Shariful. Afghanistan then lost their fifth wicket at 118 runs.
Thanks to the effective Bangladesh bowling, Afghanistan were pushed back into defensive mode. Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi tried to build a fightback: Nabi scored 20 runs off 12 balls, and Omarzai remained not out with 19. Afghanistan ended with 147 runs in their allotted overs, losing five wickets. Nasum and Rishad each took two wickets, and Shariful claimed one. The top scorer for Afghanistan was Zadran with 38.
In reply, Bangladesh lost three early wickets and found themselves under pressure. Captain Zaker Ali scored 32 before falling to Rashid’s googly — he had hit two fours and two sixes in his innings. After his fall, Bangladesh slid further: by the time they reached 102 runs, they had lost their fifth wicket.
Soon after, Saifuddin was caught at fine leg, having dominated one ball before with a boundary. On the next delivery, Rishad caught a top-edge, but the fielder couldn’t take it — Saifuddin survived one more ball only to be bowled on the next. Bangladesh lost two wickets in three balls.
However, in the 19th over, a six off Nurul Hasan off the first ball turned the tide. After a single and a dot, a wide plus two extra runs followed. Shariful then scored 7 off three balls. That over yielded 17 runs — bringing Bangladesh within reach of victory.
They needed just 2 runs off the last ball. Azmatullah bowled, and Shariful Islam lofted it to long-on for a four, sealing the match and the series for Bangladesh. They won two out of three T20s to claim the series.
