Bangladesh VS Afghanistan ODI Series 2022
1st Match Played at SBNCS, Dhaka on 23 February 2022
Bangladesh 219/ 6 in 48.5 Overs (Afif Hossain 93*54, Mehedy Hasan Miraz 81*, Fareed Haq Farooqi 4/54) beat Afghanistan 215 All Out in 49.1 Overs ( Nazibullah Zadran 67 , Rahmat Shah 34 , Mohammad Nabi 20, Ibrahim Zadran 19 ,Mustafizur Rahman 3/35 , Shoriful Islam 2/38 , Shakib Al Hasan 2/50, Taskin Ahmed 2/53 ) by 4 Wickets.
Player of the Match: Mehedy Hasan Miraz
Exceptional sparkling unbeaten 7th Wicket partnership of 174 between Afif (93*) and Miraz (81*) salvaging Bangladesh from 45/6 earned Bangladesh milestone setting victory. Team Tigers won the 1st match of three ODI series against Afghanistan by 4 wickets.
It was like snatching the team from the jaw of certain defeat by a fairy tale performance . This was the second highest partnership after Joss Butler and Adil Rashid 177. It was the most outstanding fight back fighting back from a very tight spot of 45/6 (cream of batting back in the hut ) chasing a target of 216. Perhaps not the staunchest of tiger admirers in the wildest of dream envisioned a win . Anyway with 1-0 lead Bangladesh is set for winning the series. If so it would put Bangladesh on the points table of the ICC ODI league.
For reasons better known to Afghanistan captain Hasmatullah Shahidi they chose to bat ignoring the prospect of dew effect at later stage. The wicket was seaming and swinging. Bangladesh seam bowlers. Variation of Mustafiz ( 3/35) , cleverly exploited bounce of Shoriful (2/38) and pace of Taskin rattled Afghanistan. Extracting turn and grip Mehedy Miraz (0/28) strangled Afghans. Taskin (2/58) and Shakib (2/50) leaked some runs. Otherwise it was team miserly bowling restricted Afghanistan to less than average score at 215 all out in 49.1 over. All thought that it would be a cakewalk for Bangladesh at innings break. Only Nazibullah Zadran (67) held the innings together. Afghanistan lost wickets in heaps at the later stage of the innings. Tamim marshaled his resources brilliantly. Even man with golden arm Mahmudullah brought a high value breakthrough in his only over
Chasing a seemingly easy 216 target set by Afghanistan Bangladesh lost 5 wickets scoring only 27. They were looking down the barrel at 45/6. Young Afif and Mehedy Miraz got together on a never say die mission. Playing out of their skin they surprised many displaying wonderful brand of matured batting producing unbeaten 174 runs partnership in 225 deliveries. This was the highest score for team winning an ODI match chasing a target. The earlier record was held by England’s Joss Butler and Chris Woakes scoring 138 against Sri Lanka at Nottinghamshire. Scoring unbeaten 93 Afif become the highest scorer for Bangladesh while contributing for the winning cause for his team chasing a target.
Mahmudullah scored 75 in 71 balls against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2013. Liton, Tamim, Mushfique, debutant Rabbi fell to wonderful spell of seam bowling by rookie Farid Haq Farooqi. Mystery spinner Mujeeb removed Shakib. Even crisis man Mahmudullah fell to Rashid. At 45/6 all thought match won't go to distance. But what Afif and Meraj did illuminated the record book. Afif played fearless stroke full innings. Meraj was circumspect a little bit at the outset. But once settled he also played delightful strokes. 93* of Afif and 81* of Miraz were their highest individual scores. Miraz for his outstanding all round performance was adjudged player of the match. Possibly it could be shared.
Bangladesh is firm favorite for winning the ODI series for several reasons. It ranks higher in ODI ranking. In Tamim, Shakib, Mushfique, Mahmudullah Bangladesh possess 4 of the most experienced ODI players in international cricket. It was a brilliant win of Bangladesh in any case as none of the four top players Tamim, Shakib, Mahmudullah or Mushfique made any contribution. Even in bowling youngsters Mustafiz, Shoriful, Taskin and Miraz rocked. Shakib took two wickets in the last spell of his bowling giving away 50 runs.
Well done team tigers. They can only improve the team performance from here learning lessons from mistakes. Afghans would also leave nothing unturned to bounce back. Looking for two more nail biting ODI matches over the next few days. Hope Bangladesh cricket would witness a generation change. May be a bit too early to conclude any way.
BDST: 1225 HRS, FEB 24, 2022
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