Dominant Afghanistan Beat Bangladesh Comprehensively to Progress to the Super Fours

Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/16) and Rashid Khan (3/22) shared 6 wickets before the Zadran duo of Najibullah 43* (17 balls, 5 sixes) and Ibrahim 42* (41 balls, 4 fours) shared 69 runs off 33 balls between them to hand Afghanistan an emphatic 7-wicket win over Bangladesh to advance to the Super Fours stage of the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2022.

Earlier in the evening, Bangladesh opted to bat first but were soon put in trouble as Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/16) did the early damage by picking up three wickets in his first spell to put Bangladesh under pressure at 24/3 in the 5th over. 

Rashid Khan was introduced to bowl the 7th over and struck in his very 2nd delivery as he trapped Mushfiqur Rahim for 1 to leave Bangladesh at 28/4. Afif Hussain (12), Mohammadullah (25) and Mossadek Hussain (48*) batted well but Rashid Khan (3/22) kept taking wickets as he removed Afif Hussain (LBW) and Mohammadullah (caught in the deep by Ibrahim Zadran) one after the other to help Afghanistan reduce Bangladesh to 127 in their 20 overs. 

Afghanistan lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz (11) earlier in the chase at 15/1, and then after a 30-run partnership with Ibrahim Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai (23) was trapped in front at 45/2 in the 10th over to leave Afghanistan in trouble. The skipper Mohammad Nabi (8 off 9b) promoted himself up the order but lost his wicket only adding 8 runs to the total. 

Najibullah Zadran came in at 5 and started to rebuild the Afghanistan inning as he struck a big six over the deep mid-wicket off Mahedi Hassan in 16th over before clobbering Mustafizur Rahman for two more sixes in the 17th over to bring the equation down to 26 off the last three overs. Ibrahim Zadran clipped the first ball of the 18th over off his legs for four, which was followed by another pull shot and a couple of more sixes by Najibullah to take 22 runs off the 18th over to make Afghanistan needing only 4 runs off the last two overs. 

Najibullah finished the game with another big six for Afghanistan as he smashed one over the bowler’s head to help Afghanistan to an emphatic win by 7 wickets. Ibrahim Zadran won the best catch of the match award whereas Mujeeb Ur Rahman was adjudged as the player of the match for his impressive figures of 3/16 in his 4 overs. 

With this emphatic victory, Afghanistan advanced to the top four of ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2022.