Afghanistan win record 12th T20
DHAKA: Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman starred respectively with bat and ball as Afghanistan thrashed Bangladesh by 25 runs in their second match of the tri-nation T20I tournament in Dhaka on Sunday. Nabi hit an unbeaten 84 off 54 balls under pressure to guide Afghanistan to 164/6 before Mujeeb claimed a career best 4/15 to dismiss Bangladesh for 139 in 19.5 overs. Afghanistan thus created a world record of 12 successive T20I wins.
Mujeeb took three wickets in his opening spell to reduce the home side to 32/4 before Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman put a little resistance with 58 runs for the fifth wicket.
Gulbadin Naib broke the partnership by removing Mahmudullah, who made 44 off 39 balls for Bangladesh before Mujeeb ended Sabbir’s innings at 24 in his final over to surpass his previous best of 3/17 against Ireland.
Naib claimed 2/27 while skipper Rashid Khan and left-arm pacer Fareed Malik also took two wickets each.
Nabi earlier helped Afghanistan recover from 40/4 with his fourth T20I fifty, which featured three fours and seven sixes. He received great support from former skipper Asghar Afghan as the duo shared 79 runs in the fifth wicket stand.
“It’s a team effort. Bangladesh bowled brilliantly in the powerplay and that put the pressure on us. Me and Asghar planned well and in the last five overs the plan worked,” said Man of the Match Nabi.
On Saturday, Nabi and Najibullah Zadran had smashed seven consecutive sixes across the 17th and 18th overs against Zimbabwe. It was the second match of the tri-series, which Afghanistan won by 28 runs.
Afghanistan batted first and were ambling at 123/4 after 16 overs. Tendai Chatara bowled the 17th over with Nabi and Zardan in the middle and the pair took singles off the first two balls. Nabi started the carnage with a six over deep mid-wicket off the third ball. The second was smashed over the bowler’s head while the third disappeared over deep midwicket again. The fourth six was over deep extra cover, thus making it 26 runs for the over.
At the other end, Zadran hit Neville Madziva for three more sixes off the first three balls.