Rashid’s hot form stuns Bangladesh
Afghan leg-spinner picks up three wickets in team’s win
Leg-spinner Rashid Khan carried his lethal IPL form into international cricket as Afghanistan outplayed Bangladesh by 45 runs in the opening T20 of the three-match series here on Sunday.
Rashid came to bowl in the 11th over and put his team in a strong position straightaway by removing the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim (20) and Sabbir Rahman (0) off his first two deliveries.
Bangladesh could not recover from the blow and ended at 122 all out in response to Afghanistan’s 167 for eight.
The 19-year-old spin sensation was on target straightaway as he found the stumps of Rahim, who failed to execute a reverse sweep. The next ball was a googly and Rahman was trapped plumb in front of the stumps.
Rashid ended with figures of three for 13 in three overs. Bangladesh felt the pressure in the chase from ball one when the other in-form spinner Mujeeb Zadran had the experienced Tamim Iqbal leg before wicket.
All-rounder Mohammad Nabi (2/21) took the prized wicket of opposition skipper Shakib Al Hasan and pacer Shapoor Zadran struck thrice though he was a tad expensive. Earlier, Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad (40 off 37) entertained the Dehradun crowd which turned up in huge numbers to watch the first ever international game in the city as well as the state. The wicket played slow as expected but Shahzad picked his spots well to bludgeon five boundaries. He shared a 62run stand for the opening wicket with Usman Ghani (26 off 24), who too hit some lusty blows. The fall of the openers triggered a middle order collapse but Samiullah Shenwari (36 off 18) and Shafiqullah Shafiq (24 off 8) ensured Afghanistan had a fine total.