A fighting half-century by Tanzid Hasan and superb bowling by Mustafizur Rahman took centre stage as Bangladesh players held their nerves to beat Afghanistan by eight runs in a Group B encounter of the Men's T20 Asia Cup 2025 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Mustafizur Rahman was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh as he bagged three wickets while Taskin Ahmed, Rishad Hossain, and Nasum Ahmed dismissed two scalps each. With this win, Bangladesh keep themselves alive in the tournament and fight for a spot in the Super 4 stage.
Before this match, Afghanistan never chased a target of more than 150 against a full member Asian nation. Chasing 155, Afghanistan had a disastrous start as they lost opener Sediqullah Atal on the very first ball of the innings by Nasum Ahmed.
It was a wicket maiden for the spinner. Ibrahim Zadran came to bat at No. 3 and joined Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The duo tried to rebuild the innings and struck a few fours before Nasum struck again to dismiss Zadran in the fifth over.
Gulbadin Naib came to bat No. 4 and struck Mustafizur Rahman for a four to reach 27/2 at the end of the powerplay. Gulbadin and Gurbaz stitched a 33-run vital partnership for the third wicket before Rishad Hossain caught and bowled the former for 16.
Gurbaz kept the scoreboard running and smashed Saif Hassan for a six over long-off. Afghanistan were 61/3 at the halfway mark. Rishad removed Gurbaz on the second ball of the 11th over to give a big jolt to their chase.
He departed after scoring 35, laced with two sixes and as many fours. Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai had a brief 11-run stand as Mustafizur bowled the former out for 15. Meanwhile, Omarzai hit the sixth gear and smashed Saif for a four and two maximums to generate 20 from it.
Pacer Taskin Ahmed dismissed Azmatullah for 30 to give some respite to his side. However, Rashid got off to a mark with a no-look six and a four to keep his side alive in the match. In the next over, Karim Janat and Rashid were involved in a mix-up that resulted in the removal of the former.
In the last two overs, Afghanistan needed 27 runs to win the match. Despite being hit for a four on the first ball, Mustafizur sent Rashid back to the pavilion on the next ball to put pressure back on the Afghans.
The equation turned to 22 off the last over. Noor Ahmad hit two sixes to bring them closer to the target, but ultimately fell on the last ball of the innings as Bangladesh walked away with a victory. Opting to bat first, the Bangladesh openers gave them a flying start with Tanzid Hasan and Saif Hassan making the most of the powerplay.
The batting side could only manage eight runs in the first two overs without a boundary before Tanzid hammered four boundaries of Fazalhaq Farooqi’s over. Saif too joined the bandwagon, hitting a six off AM Ghazanfar before smashing a four in Azmatullah Omarzai’s next over.
The final over of the field restrictions brought a lot of joy for Tanzid as he launched Ghazanfar for two maximums to accumulate 19 from the over. Bangladesh were looking solid with a score of 59/0 after six overs.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan gave the first breakthrough to his side, cleaning up Saif for 30 in the seventh over. Bangladesh captain Litton Das joined Tanzid in the middle. The fall of a wicket brought two tight overs for Afghanistan before Tanzid smacked a six over deep backward square leg to move into the 40s.
Bangladesh reached 87/1 at the halfway mark. Right after the drinks break, Noor Ahmad made an instant impact with his very first ball, trapping Bangladesh captain Litton Das plumb in front. The tossed-up delivery around leg beat the attempted sweep, and a successful review confirmed three reds, sending the skipper back early.
Meanwhile, Tanzid completed his half-century in 28 balls before hitting Noor for a six to bring up 100 for Bangladesh in the 13th over. Later in the same over, Noor struck again, dismissing Tanzid for 52, an innings that featured three sixes and four boundaries.
Shamim Hossain and Towhid Hridoy were trying to keep the scoreboard ticking, and the former hit two fours off Rashid Khan in the 14th over before striking Noor for a boundary in the next over as Bangladesh were 119/3 after 15 overs.
Rashid Khan cut short Shamim’s innings for 11 in the 16th over to restrict Bangladesh from scoring big in the death overs. In the penultimate over, Omarzai dismissed Hridoy after scoring 26 as Jaker Ali and Nurul Hasan played identical knocks of 12 each to drag Bangladesh to 154/5 in 20 overs. For Afghanistan, spinners Rashid and Noor bagged two scalps each to contain Bangladesh after getting a solid start.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 154/5 in 20 overs (Tanzid Hasan 52, Saif Hassan 30; Noor Ahmad 2-23, Rashid Khan 2-26) beat Afghanistan 146 all out in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 35, Azmatullah Omarzai 30; Mustafizur Rahman 3-28, Rishad Hossain 2-18, Nasum Ahmed 2-11) by eight runs.