Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
Bangladesh has taken a strong 2-0 lead in the three-match series after pulling off an exciting two-wicket win against Afghanistan in the second T20I at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Afghanistan set a target of 147 runs, losing 5 wickets in their 20 overs. Nasum Ahmed (2-25) and Rishad Hossain (2-45) shone as the top bowlers for Bangladesh, but it was left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam who truly kept the Afghan batsmen in check, wrapping up his four overs with impressive figures of 1-13.
Bangladesh then reached 150-8 in 19.1 overs with Shoriful hitting the winning shot.
Bangladesh were in a precarious position of 24-3 in the fifth over when Saif Hassan was caught off Mujeeb Ur Rahman after Azmatullah Omarzai got two openers cheaply.
Shamim Hossain and stand-in-captain Jaker Ali then added 56 off 37 to put the Tigers in a comfortable position. Jaker, however, was trapped lbw by Rashid Khan after making 32 off 25.
Bangladesh innings then revolved around Nurul Hasan, who eventually remained unbeaten on 31 off 21.
Shamim threw his wicket away while attempting a reverse sweep off Noor Ahmad after scoring 33 off 22.
Three quick wickets of Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, and Rishad Hossain then put Bangladesh on the brink as they still needed 19 off 13 with two wickets in hand.
Nurul hit Noor for a six in the first ball of the 19th over while Shoriful’s two boundaries sealed a nervy win. For Afghanistan, Azmatullah Omarzai took 4-23.
Earlier, Afghanistan’s middle-over woes continued as their innings never took off.
After an opening partnership of 55 runs between Sadiqullah Atal (23 off 19) and Ibrahim Zadran (38 off 37), Rahmanullah Gurbaz tried to keep things together with his 30 off 22.
Omarzai remained unbeaten on 19 off 17, while Mohammad Nabi was not out on 20 off 12 to give them a late-surge.
