Asia Cup 2018: Super Four, Match 4, Bangladesh vs Afghanistan – Statistical Highlights

Bangladesh stayed alive in the Asia Cup 2018 on the bank of a close three-run win over Afghanistan and will now need to defeat Pakistan to make it to the final. Their top-order collapsed to 87/5 before Imrul Kayes (72*) and Mahmudullah (74) rescued their team with a big sixth wicket stand. Chasing 250 to remain in the competition, Afghanistan scored under four runs an over for the majority of their innings.

However, they began to accelerate thanks to some big hitting in the final overs. Mustafizur Rahman held his nerve to defend six runs from the last five deliveries where he giving away only two runs and that too off the leg-byes.

All the major stats and numbers recorded during yet another thriller at the Abu Dhabi:

1 – Bangladesh’s win in this game is their first ODI win since 2014 without Tamim Iqbal in the playing XI. They played 11 ODI matches without him since 2014 and ended up on the losing side prior to the game against Afghanistan.

3 – The three-run win in this match is Bangladesh’s joint-narrowest margin of win in the ODI format. They defeated New Zealand by three runs in the 2010 Dhaka ODI.

This defeat is Afghanistan’s joint second narrowest loss in this format in terms of runs. They lost to Zimbabwe by two runs earlier this year and also by three runs against the same team in 2017.

3 – Hashmatullah Shahidi became the first Afghanistan player to score three fifty-plus scores in the Asia Cup. The Bangladesh left-hander Imrul Kayes also completed a hat-trick of the fifties in the Asia Cup with his innings in this game.

Kayes scored 66 in his last outing of the 2010 edition against Pakistan and a 59-run knock also against Pakistan in the only match he played in 2014.

71 – Imrul Kayes became the 8th Bangladesh player to complete 2000 runs in ODI cricket. He is the 4th quickest among those eight players taking 71 innings to reach the milestone. Shahriar Nafees is the quickest among the eight players as he got to the milestone only in 65 innings.

128 – The 128-run partnership between Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah is the highest for the 6th and lower wicket for Bangladesh in ODI format. The pair of Al Sahariar and Khaled Mashud shared an unbeaten 123-run stand for the 6th wicket in the 1999 Dhaka ODI against the Windies.

This is also the second-highest partnership in the Asia Cup for the 6th and lower wicket behind Asghar Afghan and Samiullah Shenwari’s 164 for the 6th wicket against Bangladesh in 2014.

5026 – Mushfiqur Rahim became the third Bangladesh player to complete 5000 runs in ODI cricket after Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. Rahim needed seven runs to reach the milestone before coming into the game.

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