Scorecard:
Bangladesh 244/8 in 50 overs (Mahmudullah Riad 98, Mehidy Hasan Miraj 66, Soumya Sarkar 24, Azmatullah Omarzai 4/47)
Afghanistan 246/5 in 48.2 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 101, Azmatullah Omarzai 70*, Mohammad Nabi 30*, Nahid Rana 2/40, Mustafizur Rahman 2/50)
Afghanistan Won the Match by 5 wickets
Afghanistan won the Series 2-1
Player of the Series: Mohammad Nabi (135 Runs,2 Wickets)
Man of the match: Azmatullah Omarzai (70* runs and 4/47)
Winning the keenly contested series deciding 3rd match by 5 wickets Afghanistan, a superior team of the two won the 3matches ODI series 2-1 at Sharjah UAE yesterday.
Afghanistan also won the first match by 92 runs. Bangladesh bounced back in the second match, winning by 68 runs. Winning the toss and batting first, Bangladesh scored 244/8 in the allotted overs. Afghanistan, scoring 246/5 in 48.2 overs, won by 5 wickets.
Credit must also go to the depleted Bangladesh team for going down fighting defying all odds against them. Bangladesh squad missed star all rounder Shakib Al Hasan and key batsman Litton Kumar Das for different reasons. During the series dependable batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and captain Nazmul Hosen Shanto also became unavailable through injuries. Bangladesh was not expected to perform better as the team is going through a prolonged lean period in different forms of the game after recording a historic test series win against Pakistan in Pakistan.
Several controversial incidents on and off the field must have impacted on the moral and psyche of the team. Given the relative strength of the two teams and recent performance in different bilateral series, we would think Bangladesh has done much better than expected. If not they collapsed badly they should have won the first ODI. In the third, on a spinning track against a formidable spin attack they did reach a competitive score. But on a day when master blaster Ramanullah Gurbaz deliver it is not easy to defend. But they Bangladesh made Afghans wait till the penultimate over to get across the line. Player of the match Azmatullah Omarzai played majestic innings.
Bangladesh started the series without Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Kumar Das. Then they lost Mushfiqur Rahim and Nazmul Hosein Shanto during the series. Afghanistan also did not have Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ibrahim Zadran. The players who replaced Afghan Players Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar and Sadiqullah Atol proved equal. While Bangladesh did not have quality players to replace those who missed the series. Question logically arises if Afghans having very little facilities can produce quality players regularly why Bangladesh cannot?
Anyway Bangladesh was lucky with the coin yesterday and Mehidy Hasan Miraj leading the team on his 100th ODI elected to bad. Tanzid Tamim despite of being dropped twice could not stay longer. Zaker Hasan also went cheaper getting ran out. At 4/72 Bangladesh looked shaking. The wicket was turning and Afghan spinners were tweaking. However, captain courageous in partnership with Mahmudullah at his majestic best put together added 145 invaluable runs for the 5th wicket. Mahmudullah stayed till the last ball of the innings scoring 98 in 98 balls. Miraj was a bit slow scoring 66 of 119. Bangladesh finished 244/8 in allotted overs. Afghan spinners strangled Bangladesh batsmen but Azmatullah Omarzai taking 4/37 was the most successful bowler.
Perhaps resting Taskin for the match was a psychological mistake. For Bangladesh the key was to remove flamboyant Afghan opener Ramanullah Gurbaz early. In two earlier matches Taskin did that. Yesterday Gurbaz at full flow led the solid foundation of Afghan innings blasting 7 sixes and 5 fours in his match deciding innings of 101.
However, Bangladesh bowlers also did not make it easy for the Afghans. It required a brilliant unbeaten innings of 70 by Azmatullah Omarzai and a match winning partnership of 58 between him and veteran Mohammad Nabi to taken Afghans to 5 wickets win and the series at 2-1. Well done, Afghans. This team will be a potent force in the champions trophy and a headache for top raked teams for sure. Bangladesh also competent well despite of handicaps Superior team playing better cricket deservedly won the series.
BDST: 0705 HRS, NOV 12, 2024
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