Bangladesh posted a very modest 127/7 from their allotted 20 overs against Afghanistan in their first match of the Asia Cup in Sharjah.
Mosaddek Hossain scored the highest unbeaten 48 off 31 balls while Mahmudullah Riyad scored 25 off 27 balls. Four of Bangladesh’s first five batters failed to reach a double-digit score. Bangladeshi batters failed to play well against the Afghan spinners.
Bangladesh won the toss but they failed horribly to justify the decision. They lost both the openers inside the powerplay, and they managed only 50 runs in the first 10 overs losing two more wickets.
Mohammad Naim, who was called to the team for his hundred for Bangladesh A against the West Indies A, failed once again to prove his mettle in the T20Is. Anamul Haque Bijoy, Naim’s opening partner, who recently scored two fifties in the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, was also disappointed with the bat in this match.
Bangladesh badly missed the service of Liton Das who is not part of the Bangladesh team in the Asia Cup due to an injury.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up all of the first three wickets Bangladesh lost. And Rashid Khan came in and removed Mushfqiur Rahim.
In the fifth wicket stand, Mahmudullah Riyad and Afif Hossain added 25 runs. The stand was broken when Afif fell prey to Rashid as his third scalp.
Bangladesh could manage only 87 runs in 15 overs for five wickets. In the last five overs, Bangladesh managed only 40 runs losing two more wickets.
For Afghanistan, Mujeeb and Rashid scalped three wickets each.
While Bangladesh started their Asia Cup campaign with this match, Afghanistan have already played a match and won that by eight wickets against Sri Lanka in the event opener.
Source: United News of Bangladesh