Bangladesh batsmen Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s mammoth 174 runs partnership guided the team to a 4-wicket victory against Afghanistan in the first of three-match ODI series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Wednesday.
The young duo put on an exceptional partnership on display to win the match for Tigers. They strung, wove, and fabricated a partnership for more than 35 overs with 174-run partnership to take their side to what seemed an impossible victory.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday congratulated Bangladesh Cricket team on winning the first ODI match against Afghanistan.
Afghanistan started the innings with a cluster of wickets in the first ten overs where pacer Farooqi wrote his own script by taking 4 wickets. After Rashid Khan got the wicket of Mahmudullah Riyad, it got even direr. But the last hope that came with Afif and Mehidy blossomed into belief and later conviction. Eventually, they took the team home and made it look like they were never under any pressure to begin with.
Chasing a modest total of 216, Bangladesh were in a horrendous position at one stage as they were reduced to 45/6 after 11.2 overs. Defeat was almost inevitable for the team. Then Afif and Mehidy came. They not only steadied the sinking ship but also took the team towards victory shores. Where seniors like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad failed, these two youngsters batted with calm, maturity and skill. Their superlative partnership earned a victory for Bangladesh from the jaws of defeat. Afif scored 115-ball 93 whereas Mehidy scored 120-ball 81.
Earlier, on a good batting wicket Afghans never got going and by the halfway stage had played more than 100 dots as Rahmat and Shahidi failed to rotate the strike enough. Mehidy with a tight spell through the middle overs as he kept a leash on things. Eventually it was left to Najiubullah who played an enterprising knock of 67 to help his side go over 200. There was a late collapse after Nabi got out and the visitors could not bat out their overs. Mustafizur and Shoriful cleaned up the lower-order as they were all out for 215.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz was awarded with Player of the Match award for his all-round performance.