Asia Cup 2018: Super Four, Match 4, Bangladesh vs Afghanistan - Who Said What

Well, Afghanistan have got to learn winning close matches. They would’ve been in the final if they had avoided silly mistakes in their last two matches in the end. They have managed to thrill many in this tournament and sadly have been knocked out of the Asia Cup with one match against India yet to go. Bangladesh, on the other hand, will now face Pakistan in a virtual semi-final on September 26.

Bangladesh, after winning the toss, started poorly with the bat once again. Their opener, Nazmul Hossain, got ut early and then Mohammad Mithun also was dismissed soon. But Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim rebuilt well only to do some senseless batting later. While Das threw it away with an awful stroke, Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan were run-out inexplicably to leave their team reeling at 87/5.

But then Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes played sensibly and added 128 runs for the sixth to give their team a respectable total. Though they couldn’t accelerate in the end and could only post 249 runs on the board.

Afghanistan fall agonisingly short

Mohammad Shahzad and Hashmatullah Shahidi were brilliant in the chase as Afghanistan lost a couple of early wickets. But the duo brought the team back with a sensible batting display. Shahzad was exceptional with his hitting skills and smashed a half-century to keep his team in the hunt. Even after his wicket fell, the skipper Asghar Afghan batted well along with the in-form Shahidi who hit his third consecutive fifty.

But both of them were dismissed at the wrong time and the onus was now on Mohammad Nabi and Samiullah Shenwari to take the team home. They almost did with the team needing only eight runs off the final over. But Rahman’s left-arm pace bowling was too much for them in the end.

Man of the Match, Mahmudullah said:

 I think the weather was quite hot today. I am feeling dried up. We crossed the line and that is pleasing. We knew they got some big hitters and got a partnership in the middle, so good we came out on top. It is always a happy feeling to contribute to the team. We need to bring our A game to beat Pakistan. They are playing some good cricket and we need to be on top of our game to beat them.

Bangladesh skipper, Mashrafe Mortaza said:

At the end of the game Mustafizur was like a magician. It was difficult to defend 8 runs. Credit goes to Mustafizur. Not at all. Shakib bowled a good 49th over. But it was Mahmudullah and Kayes, playing his first game, set it up for us with the bat. Mustafizur was cramping a bit in the middle, we wanted him to bowl 10 overs but he couldn’t. It is hot and a tough job. A win like this always gives confidence and the game against Pakistan is like a semifinal.

Afghanistan skipper, Asghar Afghan said:

Congrats to Bangladesh for this victory. We required 8 off 6 and it was not difficult specially when Naib, one of the main batsman in the death overs was batting. Mustafizur used his variations very well. We should have chased this total down. It was going according to our plan. In the last overs we had wickets in the hand. May be we should have taken singles or doubles in the last over. This wicket is easy to bat on and 250 runs is not difficult to chase here. We have learnt a lot while playing against full-member side.

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