Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by wickets in the second T20I to level the two-match T20I series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday.
Bangladesh won the ODI series 2-1, and the T20I series ends with a scoreline of 1-1. Not much to differentiate between the two sides, just that Bangladesh won a match more than the visitors did. And most of the games were one-sided ones. Either Bangladesh outplayed Afghanistan, or the Afghans outplayed the hosts, like they did on Saturday.
It was an impressive performance by their bowlers, especially Farooqi and Azmatullah who claimed three wickets each to restrict Bangladesh to 115/9 earlier in the day. In reply, Afghanistan lost an early wicket in the form of Gurbaz. However, Zazai and Ghani had a match-defining partnership for the second wicket, and Bangladesh had no answers to that onslaught by the two top order batters. Zazai finished with an unbeaten knock of 59*, while Rasooli hit the winning runs.
Earlier, it was a superb bowling display from Afghanistan after they were asked to bowl first. They had the hosts on a tight leash, hardly gave anything away and were rewarded with early wickets. Everyone tried to break the shackles with some big hits, but nothing came away, so much that they limped across to 47 for 4 at the half-way mark.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad tried to salvage the situation, added 43 runs for the fifth wicket, but then inform pacer Farooqi and his death-over bowling ensured that the Tigers didn't finish on a high. Farooqi and Omarzai scalped three wickets each, the others chipped in as well and kept Bangladesh down to 115.