Afghanistan created history recently by beating Bangladesh in their own backyard in the ODI series. The focus moved to the T20 series which began on Friday. The game went down to the wire as there was plenty of drama during the game. The match saw Bangladesh win the game by 2 wickets.
The story so far –
Afghanistan are touring Bangladesh for a short series which began a month ago with a single test. Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by a whopping 548 runs in the only test match. Bangladesh then lost their 1st ODI series at home for nearly a decade when Afghanistan beat them by 2-1 margin. The first match of the two match T20 was played on Friday at Sylhet.
Karim Janat’s last over hat-trick turns the game –
Coming into the final over of the game, Bangladesh were placed at 153/5 needing just 5 runs. That’s when the drama unfolded, as Karim Janat turned a seemingly simple game into am humdinger. Mehidy Hasan hit the first ball for a four to tie the game with 5 balls left.
Hasan, then was out to Janat when he was caught by Mohammad Nabi for 8. Taskin Ahmed was out next ball when he was caught behind for a 1st ball duck. Nasum Ahmed came out and went for a winning hit. That’s when Fareed Ahmed caught the ball to give Janat his hattrick. The joy of Hat-Trick was short lived as Shoriful Islam hit the ball for a four to win the game for Bangladesh.
This over had more drama than a daily soap 🎢 pic.twitter.com/jxM2zt1CfP
— FanCode (@FanCode) July 14, 2023
Mohammad Nabi’s fifty leads Afghanistan to 154 –
Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and chose to bowl first and reduced the visitors to 87/5 in the 14th over. Mohammad Nabi was the difference maker as he top scored with 54 off 40 balls with 6 fours and a six. Nabi, was supported well by Najibuallah who scored run-a-ball 23 with 3 fours, while Azmatullah scored 33 off 18 balls wioth 4 sixes. Afghanistan finished 154 on the board as Shakib picked 2 wickets, while the other bowlers picked a wicket each.
Bangladesh survive last over scare –
Chasing 155 to win, Bangladesh lost opener Rony Talkuldar for 4. Liton Das (18), Najmul Shanto (14), and Shakin Al Hasan with 19 fell early. Towhid Hridoy with 47 off 32 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes, with Shamim Hossain’s 33 led Bangladesh to a 2 wicket win with 1 ball to spare. Karim Janat was the lead wicket taker with his hattrick which came at the cost of 15 runs in the 9 balls he bowled.