Afghanistan cricket team have snatched the series from Bangladesh by winning two consecutive matches. The highly motivated and confident Afghans threatened to whitewash Bangladesh. But their innings were stopped at 126 runs in 45.2 overs at the Zahoor Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. This is Afghanistan’s lowest-ever run against Bangladesh. Tigers won the 3rd ODI match of the 2023 BAN vs AFG ODI Series in 23.3 overs, and they scored 130 for 3 wickets.
Bangladesh’s Performance
In the third and final ODI of the series on Tuesday, Afghanistan’s batsmen were crushed by the devastating skills of the Bangladeshi bowlers.Their innings ended at only 126 runs. Shoriful Islam, the left-arm pacer, destroyed the Afghan batting lineup. He took 4 wickets for 21 runs in his career-best bowling. Apart from this, despite taking 1 wicket, left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan gave only 13 runs in 10 overs.
There were three changes in the Bangladesh team. One pacer was reduced, and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam was included in the starting XI. Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful returned to the pace attack. The two pacers kept the pressure on Afghan batters from the beginning, and the success came quickly.
Shoriful had Ibrahim Zadran caught behind in the first ball of the third over of the innings. The left-hander forced Rahmat Shah to give a catch behind the wicket on the fifth ball of that over. The Afghans were in great trouble after losing 2 wickets for just 3 runs. Zardan scored one run, and Rahmat Shah went for zero.
Read more: Bangladesh end ODI series vs Afghanistan with comfortable win
After that, Taskin struck in the sixth over. He was caught behind Rahmanullah Gurbaz and sent him for 6 runs. However, for the Afghan’s, disaster was not over; Shoriful struck again in the ninth over. This time, Mohammad Nabi was LBW at his pace.
No Afghan batter could put up any resistance, and they lost 4 wickets for 15 runs. Najibullah Zadran scored 10 runs off 22 balls and was LBW by Shakib’s spin. However, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi tried to fight back; he returned to the pavilion as the sixth batsman with a team’s 53 runs. Shahidi was bowled by Taijul’s left-arm spin for 22 runs off 4 fours from 54 balls. Gradually Afghans lost 8 wickets for 89 runs.
Azmatullah Omarzai fought on the ninth wicket. He gave his career-best batting performance and made a partnership of 36 runs for the ninth wicket with Mujeeb Ur Rahman. After Mujeeb was dismissed for 11 runs, Omarzai also became Taskin’s second victim. But, before that, Omarzai got his first half-century. He was out for 56 runs off 71 balls with 1 four and 3 sixes. As a result, Afghanistan’s innings stopped at 126 runs with 28 balls remaining. Taskin and Taijul took 2 wickets each. And Shoriful took 4 wickets for 21 runs with 1 maiden in 9 overs. Earlier also he took 4 wickets twice in ODIs.
Among all the bowlers, Shakib was the most economical. He cost only 13 runs with 1 maiden in 10 overs. However, it is joint fifth in terms of economy rate for Bangladesh in ODIs. Shakib alone owns the top record for economical bowlers of Bangladesh in ODIs. Previously, Shakib took 4 wickets for just 8 runs in 7.2 overs against the West Indies in Mirpur in 2021 and 3 wickets for just 11 runs in 4 maidens in 10 overs against Zimbabwe in 2009 at the same venue.
Read more: Analysis of BAN vs AFG 2nd ODI 2023
