Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, Asia Cup 2022: Mujeeb and Rashid show, Najibullah's fireworks and other talking points

Afghanistan on Tuesday became the first team to qualify for the Super 4 stage of the 2022 Asia Cup with another clinical performance, this time pulling off a seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Sharjah.

The Afghan bowling unit appeared to have picked up from where they left off against Sri Lanka as the spin pair of Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan rocked the Bangladesh batting order with three-wicket hauls. Had it not been for some vital contributions from the middle and lower order, the match would’ve ended a lot quicker for the Mohammad Nabi-led outfit.

The Bangladesh bowlers though kept the team’s hopes of victory intact with a disciplined show for the most part during Afghanistan’s chase, but all of that fell apart in the death overs thanks to the brilliance of Najibullah Zadran, who blasted his way to an unbeaten 43 to guide his team home.

Asia Cup 2022, Afghanistan vs Bangladesh: Spinners, Najibullah Zadran’s cameo take Afghans into Super 4s

The spirited Afghans thus are assured the top spot in Group B after collecting two wins in as many games while the Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh clash on Thursday effectively becomes a knockout clash. It was far from an ideal start to their campaign for Shakib Al Hasan-led Tigers, who opted to bat after winning the toss but lost wickets from the word ‘go’.

The three-time runners-up will hope to produce a much better show two days later in what will effectively be an eliminator.

Looking back at the events of what was the first match of the 2022 Asia Cup hosted at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, we pick five talking points from the game:

The Mujeeb and Rashid show

While it was seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi who shone against Sri Lanka on Saturday, it was the spin pair who led the way for the Afghanistan bowlers this time around with Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/16) and Rashid Khan (3/22) sharing six of the seven Bangladesh wickets that fell on the day.

– If Farooqi doesn’t get you, #Mujeeb will.
– If Mujeeb doesn’t get you,
Nabi will.
– If Nabi doesn’t get you,
Naveen will.
– If all else fails,
RASHID KHAN will definitely get you.

Take #Afghanistan lightly at your own peril 🚨#AFGvsBAN#CricketTwitter #AsiaCup2022

— Broken Cricket Dreams Cricket Blog (@cricket_broken) August 30, 2022

It was the carrom ball that primarily did the trick for Mujeeb as he struck in each of the three overs that he bowled in the powerplay, dismissing skipper Shakib along the way. Rashid, meanwhile, used his deadly googly to good effect, which accounted for two of his three wickets including that of senior batter Mushfiqur Rahim.

Mosaddek gives Bangladesh some hope

Bangladesh were reeling at 28/4 thanks to Mujeeb’s deadly powerplay spell and at one point, the prospect of even getting to 100 looked tricky for the Bangladeshis. Afif Hossain and Mahmudullah tried fighting back with a 25-run stand for the fifth wicket before the former was trapped leg-before by Rashid.

Mosaddek Hossain however, did not give up in the face of pressure and stood firm at the crease even after senior batter Mahmudullah became Rashid’s third victim of the evening. The 26-year-old struck four fours and a six en route to an unbeaten 48 off 31 balls as Bangladesh reached a relatively respectable score of 127.

Umpiring under scanner again?

The umpiring has come under the scanner on a couple of occasions in the Asia Cup so far, including in the recently-concluded clash between Bangladesh and Afghanistan with a couple of decisions overturned in a space of a couple of overs.

Another decision overturned, the umpiring is as bad as Bangladesh’s batting. Rashid Khan has a wicket too.

28/4

— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) August 30, 2022

First it was the carrom ball from Mujeeb that struck Anamul Haque on the front pad just as he was shaping for a sweep — the umpire shook his head initiailly, but had to overturn it later after the ball was found to be hitting leg.

Same story in Rashid’s second ball of the evening as he struck Mushfiqur on the pad in what looked a lot closer an LBW appeal. Once again, HawkEye showed the ball to be hitting the very centre of the leg stump after the umpire ruled otherwise.

Tigers stifle flow of runs for Afghans

Despite leaking more runs than they would’ve liked towards the end, the Afghans would’ve fancied themselves to chase down 128 especially after their clinical batting display against Sri Lanka.

Against Shakib and Co, however, the Afghan batters simply couldn’t get going for the most part in the chase. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who blasted 40 against the Lankans the other day, departed after the Afghans had scored just 15 in the first four overs of the chase.

Hazratullah Zazai collected a couple of boundaries in the final over of the powerplay, but 29/1 at the end of the powerplay hardly makes for a good score, especially in a format as fast-paced as T20. Bangladesh, in fact, maintained a stranglehold on the Afghans up until the 14th over, leaving them needing 63 to win off the last six overs.

Ibrahim holds chase together, Najibullah blasts his way through

Ibrahim (42 not out) deserves credit for holding the Afghan innings together even as the runs were hard to come by for the most part. And it was Ibrahim who began the fightback in the business end of the chase by collecting back-to-back fours off Taskin Ahmed in the 15th over to lift the spirits in the Afghan dugout.

Najibullah then announced himself with a maximum off Mahedi in the following over, smashing the ball over cow corner. The game, however, would turn on its head in the following over with Najibullah smashing two sixes off Mustafizur as the left-arm seamer’s third over of the evening. The over saw the Afghans cross the 100-run mark and suddenly, the pressure was on the fielding unit.

Najibullah Zadran what a striker! The pitch looks so different when he is batting. Congratulations to @ACBofficials on a truly amazing victory.

— Roshan Abeysinghe (@RoshanCricket) August 30, 2022

Saifuddin was even more expensive in the following over, bleeding 22 runs, and the match was as good as done. While Ibrahim played the supporting role in the chase, it surely was Najibullah who aced the finisher’s role with an unbeaten 43 off 17, including the winning six over long on.

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