Bangladesh continued to show their abysmal performance in T20 cricket as they suffered a 62-run defeat to Afghanistan in their first warm-up game of the T20 World Cup at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Monday.
The defeat was particularly more disappointing given the fact that the Bangladesh were not able to put up 100 even. They were restricted to 98-9 after Afghanistan posted 160-7.
Bangladesh's power play conundrum also continued indeed as they could put up just 28 runs for the loss of four wickets. Thereafter they lost one more wicket in the first ball after the powerplay and the game is basically over there for them. Mehidy Hasan Miraz was the top-scorer for the side with 16 for which he played 31 balls.
Afghans pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi was the wrecker-in-chief, claiming three wickets for just nine runs in his three overs.
Bangladesh scored five runs in the first over and the good run continued in the second over too when Miraz drove Farid Ahmed for four. Najmul Hossain Shanto also hit two fours in that over but the downfall started in the third over when Farooqi scattered the stump of Shanto with a vicious inswinger.
Shanto made 12. After his dismissal, Bangladesh lost four wickets in four overs at a stretch. Captain Shakib Al Hasan scored just 1 while Afif Hossain was dismissed before opening his account. Nurl Hasan Sohan made 13 while Mustafizur Rahman scored 10.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi took one wicket apiece to complement Farooqi's effort.
Nabi was also ruthless in batting, hammering 41 runs off just 17 balls. He smashed five towering sixes to make Bangladeshi bowlers disarray. The highest score came from the willow of Ibrahim Zadran who made 46 off 29. Rahmanullah Gurbaz added 27 while Hazratullah Zazai chipped-in-with 15.
Bangladesh bowlers though bowled well in tandem, they let loose in the death overs in which the Afghans took 33 runs to take the score out of their reach.
Shakib Al Hasan and Taskin Ahmed took two wickets apiece for Bangladesh but both of them were pretty dismal in death overs. While Shakib gave away 19 runs in the penultimate over, Taskin conceded 14 runs in the last over.
Mustafizur Rahman came back into the team after missing last three matches of the tri-nation series due to his poor form but couldn't do anything of worthy. He went wicketless in his four overs, after giving away 31 runs.
Source: BSS