Asia Cup 2022: Match 3 - Afghanistan vs Bangladesh: Who Said What

Afghanistan hammered Bangladesh in their second game of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 by seven wickets as Mohammad Nabi's side outclassed their opponents in every aspect of the game. Najibullah Zadran sealed the win for the Afghan side with an emphatic six, sending a stern warning to the other teams in the competition.

While the Afghan batters made light work of a tricky chase eventually, Shakib Al Hasan will be ruing his batter's poor outing as they were restricted to a modest total of 127 runs in their 20 overs. The total, somewhat saved their blushes as at one point they looked likely to finish below the 100-run mark, but Mosaddek Hossain played a blistering cameo at the end to push them to a respectful total.

The pitch wasn't easy to bat as the spinners were extracting considerable turn at the outset and Mujeeb Ur Rahman took full advantage of that, dismissing the Bangladeshi top three batters inside the powerplay. Rashid Khan then joined the party scalping another three wickets to wreck the Bangladeshi innings.

The chase wasn't as straightforward as it was in the last game for Nabi's men as the opponents were spot on with their tactics in the powerplay. Shakib Al Hasan and Mahedi Hasan did well to stifle the run flow in the middle overs, but once the pacers were back in the attack, Najibullah Zadran (43* off 17), dispatched them to all parts of the ground as Afghanistan got home with seven wickets in the bag.

Losing Captain, Shakib Al Hasan said:

It is always tough when you lose four wickets in the first 7-8 overs. We were in the game for the first 14-15 overs. Credit to Afghanistan. In a T20 game, whoever is standing up for the team should take it till the end. Mosaddek played well but we needed more contributions. We knew Najibullah is a dangerous batsman. We thought we had the game when they needed 60-odd in the last six overs. But credit to Najibullah.

Winning Captain, Mohammad Nabi said:

Everyone knows both Mujeeb and Rashid are world-class bowlers. They again showed their talent and ability. We plan to take early wickets to be ahead in the game. Everyone knows that we have power-hitters in our team. We finished the game really well. Gurbaz tried a lot but couldn't hit them well. Shakib bowled brilliantly.

Player of the Match, Mujeeb Ur Rahman said:

I would congratulate my team and the entire nation. My strength is to bowl with the new ball. I have played before in Sharjah. All my plan was to bowl wicket to wicket and that worked for me.