T20 International Series: Bangladesh VS Afghanistan
2nd Match Played at SBNCS, Dhaka on 5th March 2022
Afghanistan 121/2 in 17.4 Overs Overs (Hazratullah Zazai 59*, Usman Ghani 47) beat Bangladesh 115/9 ( Mushfiqur Rahim 30 , Mahmudullah Riad 21 , Fazal Haq Farooqi 3/18, Azmatullah Ahmadzai 3/22)
Afghanistan Won By 8 wickets
Series Drawn 1-1
Player Of The Match: Azmatullah Ahmad Zai
Afghanistan firing in all cylinders battered, bruised and humiliated high flying Bangladesh in the second match of T20 series. Avid followers wonder how the competition can be turned upside down in such a short time. Afghans were swept away by Bangladeshis in the match one merely 48 hours before by 61 runs. Almost the same teams playing on the same ground within two days witnessed tide changing. Some evil minds can even smell rats.
In T20 International the second match is the actual difference of quality between two teams. On a wicket Bangladeshi batsmen huffed and puffed getting producing a paltry 115/9. Afghans cruised across scoring 121/2 with 14 balls to spare. It is not Afghan spinners tormenting Bangladesh batsmen. Rather two rookie new ball bowlers Azmattullah Ahmadzai (3/22) and Fazal Haq Farooqi (3/18) humbled Bangladesh.
Failures of Munim Shahriar in back-to-back matches underlined the gulf of difference of BPL with other franchise. Bangladesh superstar Shakib Al Hasan had a pretty ordinary T20 series. I think the ultimate outcome is what Doctors ordered.
From the massive win by Bangladesh in the first match it created a hunger in me to follow ball by ball of the second match. Unfortunately, Bangladesh batsmen did not have required commitment. Neither they showed much application. Mushfique (30) had a cause to redeem in his 100th T20 match. Mahmudullah scored 21. Liton was caught up in the law of average. Shakib is justifying why he was not sold in IPL 2022. On current form, he cannot impress. 115/9 cannot be a competitive score. Bangladesh apart from Liton and Afif did not bat well even in the first match. If Bangladesh batsmen do not know how to play the pace of Farooqi and Ahmadzai how they would encounter protean pacers fresh from a successful Kiwi mission?
Still, ardent followers thought Bangladesh would fight tooth and nail. But the way they bowled and fielded beggars description. Zazai (59*) and Ghani (47) were dropped few times. But they also batted bravely making it a cakewalk for Afghanistan. The entire series appeared to be smartly plotted.
Afghans taught Bangladesh few basic lessons in playing T20 cricket in the match.
BDST: 1922 HRS, MAR 05, 2022
SMS
