Bangladesh have wrapped up the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan after beating them by a comprehensive margin of 88 runs in the second ODI at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Friday. Tigers now lead the series 2-0.
After batting first, Bangladesh gave Afghanistan a difficult total of 306 to chase in front of the Afghans, courtesy of LIton Das’ 126-ball 136 and Mushfiqur Rahim’s 93-ball 86. A spirited batting performance lit up by another record partnership of 202 runs, this time for the third wicket between Mushfiq and Liton, was followed up with bowlers picking up regular wickets and not cutting down free scoring phases for the batters. The Afghan batters looked to have carried the deflated spirits early on with a suicidal run out and were always behind the 8-ball. The fifties from Rahmat Shah and Najibullah Zadran took the game to the 46th over but that could not prevent an 88-run loss.
Having lost 3 early wickets in a big chase, Afghanistan needed a Liton-Mushfiqur-esque partnership to get them close to the target and the pair of Rahmat Shah and Najibullah did offer a glimmer of a hope with a 89-run stand. The re-introduction of Taskin, however, dashed all the hopes as he removed both set batters in the space of five overs to derail the chase. After Najibullah's departure around the 30th over, the visitors lost their last five wickets for 67 runs and never recovered. Liton was awarded with the Man of the Match award for his terrific ton.
Earlier, after being asked to bowl, the visitors did manage to nip out Tamim and Shakib cheaply, but then clearly weren't prepared for what was to come. Liton Das and Mushfiqur stitched a 202-run stand for the fourth wicket and both went really aggressive against Rashid, putting him off his lengths with boundaries at regular intervals. The former compiled his 5th ton while the latter missed out by 14 runs. All in all, it's been a superb turnaround with the bat for the hosts as they scored 306/4.