Desk Report:
How has the word spread that Afghanistan is the second best team in Asia in T20? Two days ago, Rashid Khan claimed that the comment was made by the media! The Afghans were eliminated from the group stage in the Asia Cup, losing the T20 series to Bangladesh with one match left on their own field. It is difficult to claim that they are the second best team in Asia with this performance.
The United Arab Emirates is second home to Afghanistan. It is difficult to find a team in the world that does not respect the Afghans in 20-over cricket. Bangladesh is losing to that Afghanistan in the desert this time. Zakir-Sohan lost in the group stage of the Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi. Bangladesh also won two consecutive matches in the bilateral series in Sharjah. If the winning streak continues today on the same field, the Zakirs will witness a ‘first’. Afghans will be whitewashed for the first time in 20-over cricket. If they can do this, it will also heal an old wound. Bangladesh returned to the game after being whitewashed 3-0 by Afghanistan in Dehradun in June 2018.
Although Afghanistan’s arrival in international cricket came much later than Bangladesh’s, the gap between the two teams has narrowed considerably in the last decade. On the contrary, Bangladesh considers the Afghans a bigger threat. Especially in T20s, world-class spin bowling like Rashid and Mujeeb has puzzled Bangladesh’s batters. Similarly, the power hitting skills of Afghan batters have put Bangladesh’s bowlers to a tough test in recent times. However, Afghanistan has not managed to win a single match against Bangladesh in the desert.
The way Bangladesh is playing in this series, it is not difficult to whitewash Afghanistan in T20s for the first time. The only concern is a sudden collapse in the batting. Although Bangladesh has won two matches, they have seen a frightening collapse in both. However, Nurul Hasan Sohan’s extraordinary finishing did not lose the match. Chasing a target of 152 runs in the first match, Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanjid Hasan Tamim put Bangladesh on the path to an easy victory by scoring 109 runs in 11.4 overs. But then Bangladesh was in danger of losing after losing 6 wickets by a margin of 9 runs. In the end, Nurul Hasan Sohan scored 23 runs off 13 balls and Rishad Hossain scored 14 runs off 9 balls to secure the victory. In the second match, chasing a target of 148 runs, Bangladesh was under pressure from the beginning due to the failure of the top order. However, the pressure was relieved by the 56-run partnership of Zaker Ali and Shamim Hossain in the middle order. Later, Sohan secured the victory as a finisher. He played an innings of 31 runs off 21 balls.
Happy to win the series with one match to spare Zaker Ali, who led the team in the absence of regular captain Liton Das. The day before yesterday, he said, “It feels good to have confirmed the series win. We have played well as a team in the last two matches. The bowlers have done well. The bowlers have given their best. We were positive.’
Bangladesh coach Phil Simmons is happy with the ‘exciting and aggressive’ cricket that Bangladesh is playing in the T20 series against Afghanistan. Bangladesh’s biggest strength is bowling. The bowlers. The way they are trapping the opponent with controlled bowling is, in a word, extraordinary. Bangladesh is losing matches only due to batting failure. The day when both batting and bowling are clicking, victory is assured. Bangladesh will play in Sharjah today to whitewash the Afghans on the same basis. Bangladesh has made changes to its regular XI in the Asia Cup. It has also continued to make changes to the team management in the Afghanistan series. There is a possibility of changes in the Bangladesh XI in the last match of the series today.
