On Saturday in the third ODI against Bangladesh, Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran scored centuries, and their team thrashed Bangladesh by 142 runs to clinch the series. Gurbaz’s 145 runs off 125 balls have become his career best, and this included 13 fours and eight sixes. Zadran scored a perfect 100 and built an opening partnership of 256 runs, which is the most wickets for Afghanistan. The team put a total of 331 runs in front of Bangladesh, which is their highest total against Bangladesh and the third highest in their history.
Bangladesh chose to bowl first
Bangladesh lost the first ODI (rain-affected) of the series by 17 runs and were bowled out for 189 in this second ODI with Ebadbot Hossain unable to bat due to a hamstring strain. Since 2015, this was Bangladesh’s biggest defeat to Afghanistan By 142 runs and their third ODI series loss. This was Mushifiqur Rahim’s 250th ODI, and he scored crucial 69 runs for Bangladesh. Liton Das led the team in the absence of Tamim Iqbal and chose to bowl first, but it backfired as they couldn’t stop the Afghani batters from hitting.
Bangladesh’s bowlers were erratic, conceding 33 extra runs by bowling too short to Gurbaz and failing to trouble Zadran. After smashing boundary after boundary, Gurbaz reached his fourth hundred in exactly 100 balls. His next 45 runs came in just 24 balls, after which Shakib Al Hasan trapped him leg before with a low ball. Gurbaz took a review, which went in vain, but his amazing knock remains Afghanistan’s second-highest score in ODIs.
The Afghani batters displayed amazing batting
Zadran brought up his career’s fourth century off 118 balls. Shakib was the only bowler from Bangladesh with 2-50 who conceded less than 6 runs per over. They scattered Afghanistan’s rest of the line-up after the dismissal of their openers. Afghani bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi took 3-22 in the match. He also performed well in the first ODI and claimed 3-24. Farooqi dismissed their skipper, Liton Das, and Tamim Iqbal’s replacement, Mohammad Naeem, to give Afghanistan an early lead.
Shakib and Towhid Hridoy held out for a brief period, but the arrival of leg-spinner Rashid Khan fastened Bangladesh’s collapse, and they lost three wickets and were left on 72-6. Mushfiqur and Mehidy Hasan put on an 87-run partnership before Hasan was dismissed for 25 runs, Farooqui brought down Mushfiqur’s resistance, and Afghanistan took a 2-0 lead in the series. The final ODI will be played tomorrow.
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