Nabi, Mujeeb shine in record Afghanistan win against Bangladesh

Afghanistan thrashed Bangladesh by 25 runs in the second match of the tri-nation Twenty20 international tournament in Dhaka on Sunday (September 15) with Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman shining with the bat and ball respectively.

Nabi’s 84 off 54 balls score served Afghanistan to 164-6 which was well supported by Mujeeb’s career-best spell of 4 wickets off 15 balls.

The duo’s efforts guided the team towards a win dismissing Bangladesh for 139 in 19.5 overs for their world record 12 successive Twenty20 international win.

Mujeeb claimed three wickets in his opening spell to tie the home side to 32 for four before Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman resisted the fall fo wickets with 58 runs for the fifth wicket.

The partnership was broken by Gulbadin Naib by dismissing Mahmudullah, who scored 44 off 39 balls before Mujeeb remove Sabbir at 24 in his final over to surpass his previous best 3-17 against Ireland.

Naib registered 2-27 while skipper Rashid Khan and left-arm pacer Fareed Malik also took two wickets each.

Nabi earlier helped Afghanistan recover from 40-4 with his fourth Twenty20 international fifty, which featured three fours and seven sixes.

Also read: 1st T20 International between India and SA abandoned due to rain

He received great support from former skipper Asghar Afghan as the duo shared 79 runs in the fifth wicket stand.

Asghar made 40 off 37 balls after he was reprieved on 31 when Sabbir took a catch at the deep only for the reply to show that bowler Taijul Islam had overstepped.

Nabi and Asghar overshadowed the bowling heroics of Mohammad Saifuddin, who claimed a career-best 4-33.

“It’s a team effort. Bangladesh bowled brilliantly in the powerplay and that put the pressure on us. Me and Asghar planned well and in the last five overs the plan worked,” said Man of the Match Nabi.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan also did well with the ball to claim two wickets for just 18 runs.

“I thought we were brilliant in the first 10 overs. They scored more than 100 runs in the last 10 overs, that cost us the game. We didn’t play well with the bat to chase those runs,” Shakib said after the match.

Both Bangladesh and Afghanistan won their respective opening match of the tournament against Zimbabwe.

(With inputs from PTI)