Bangladesh scrapped home by two wickets in a freakish encounter against Afghanistan in the first T20I held at Sylhet on Friday (July 14).

Chasing a modest target of 155, the hosts were in a spot of bother near the halfway mark of the chase with the score reading 64/4, which included the big scalps of Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das.

Afghanistan held all the aces at that point but Towrid Hridoy produced another impressive innings in his brief career, finding an able ally in Shamim Hossain. Their 73-run stand came off just 43 balls as the innings not only got repaired from the early damage but also was on track for the run chase. Only 18 were needed off 17 balls when Shamim fell to a loose shot against Rashid Khan.

Hridoy, though, kept his calm and kept chipping away at the target with Mehidy Miraz, getting the equation down to just two needed off the final five deliveries of the game. With half the side still left to bat, the game seemed a foregone conclusion but Bangladesh began to self-destruct out of nowhere. Mehidy fell in pursuit of the glory shot, and so did Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed as Karim Janat produced a hat-trick out of nowhere.

All of a sudden, Bangladesh needed two off two with only two wickets left and Hridoy off-strike. Fortunately for the hosts, Shoriful Islam held his nerve and smacked the first ball he faced for four to seal the deal. The finish was symbolical of the way the game panned out right from the start. Much like Bangladesh, Afghanistan also found themselves in trouble with the bat earlier on, tottering at 52/4 in the eighth over.

The trio of Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran and Azmattullah Omarzai redeemed the innings with notable contributions to get the score past the 150-run mark - a total that looked out of reach at one stage. Nabi anchored the innings before unleashing at the death while Omarzai continued his form from the third ODI to give the innings the required finishing touch. The total was still about 10-15 runs under-par but Afghanistan still nearly got home.

Brief scores: Afghanistan 154/7 in 20 overs (Mohammad Nabi 54*, Azmatullah Omarzai 33; Shakib Al Hasan 2-27) lost to Bangladesh 157/8 in 19.5 overs (Towrid Hridoy 47*, Shamim Hossain 33; Karim Janat 3-15) by two wickets

Source Crickbuzz

BDST: 2326 HRS, JULY 14, 2023
MSK