Opener Hazratullah Zazai scored a half-century as Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by eight wickets in the second and final T20I to level the series 1-1 on Saturday.
Zazai played an unbeaten 59 off 45 balls and shared a 99-run stand with Usman Ghani for the second wicket to help Afghanistan win the race with 14 balls to spare.
Darvesh Rasuli (9 not out) pulled left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed for a six over deep mid-wicket as Afghanistan finished 121-2 in reply to Bangladesh’s 115-9.
“We made some mistakes in our batting in the first game, but we learned from those mistakes in the second game,” said the Afghanistan captain. Mohd Nabiq said. “When we realized that the pitch was not good for batting, we planned to restrict them to low scores.”
Afghanistan lost the first match by 61 runs.
Before the start of the game, both the teams kept a minute’s silence in memory of Shane Warne and Rod Marsh while standing in line.
Ghani, who survived twice on 39 and 41, scored 47 runs in 48 balls with the help of five fours and a six.
Zazai and Ghani had a match-defining partnership after Afghanistan lost to Rahmanullah Gurbaz (3).
Zazai’s innings was almost impeccable. He smashed left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan for a six at deep square leg and made his third 50 off 37 balls and hit three fours and five sixes.
Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo said, “We specifically wanted to win T20s, so I am disappointed with the way it ended today.” “We have dropped nine catches in the last five matches. If we had known what it was, we probably wouldn’t have done it. Be it concentration, confidence or handling pressure, I am not 100% sure.
Playing his 100th T20 match for Bangladesh, Mushfiqur Rahim scored the highest 30 runs.
Captain Mahmudullah scored 21 runs and in the process became the first Bangladeshi batsman to reach 2,000 runs in this format.
Liton Das and Mohammad Naeem both scored 13 runs.
Fast bowlers Fazlhaq Farooqui and Azmatullah Omerzai took Bangladesh three wickets each after the hosts decided to bat first.
Bangladesh faltered 45-4 after which Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah shared a 43-run partnership. After his dismissal, the Bangladesh batsmen failed to hit big in the death overs.
Bangladesh won the three-match ODI series 2–1.