||Desk Report||

Bangladesh are facing Afghanistan for the second time in the ongoing Asia Cup. Unlike the previous face-off, this clash will decide which team between the two will stay alive in the tournament, as both of them have been defeated in their respective first Super Four clashes.

Winning the toss, Bangladesh opted to bat first at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi

Losing an early wicket, the Tigers tinkered with their batting line-up. Despite being in the playing eleven, Imrul Kayes did not feature in the top-order of the Tigers and Mohammad Mithun was promoted up the order at number three after opener Nazmul Hossain gave away his wicket to Aftab Alam for 6 runs.

Mithun, too, maintained Bangladesh’s streak of losing a minimum of two wickets in the powerplay in this tournament and was trapped lbw by Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 1 run.

Liton Das tried to weather the storm along with Mushfiqur Rahim until Rashid Khan came into the attack. The ghost of their past failures against the spinner then haunted the pair as Liton gave away his wicket, putting an end to a crucial 63-run partnership. The opener made 41 runs before returning to the pavilion.

Rashid’s presence in the attack put Bangladesh in a chaotic situation, as they lost two more wickets in the spinner’s back-to-back overs, both run-outs. At first, it was Shakib Al Hasan who took off for a suicidal single and got out before opening his account and then it was Mushfiqur Rahim whose blunder at the non-striker’s end cost him his wicket for 33.

Bangladesh recovered from the disaster caused by their batsmen’s mistakes with a fine 128-run stand between Imrul and Mahmudullah Riyad. The duo took a cautious approach in the beginning only to settle in and keep the score ticking. Mahmudullah made 74 before getting dismissed by Aftab Alam, who later dimissed Mashrafe Mortaza for 10 runs.

However, Imrul picked up a fifty to mark his comeback to the ODI team and remained unbeaten on 72 runs.

Bangladesh have 249 runs on the board at the end of their innings. They really made a good comeback despite the mini but deadly collapses in the middle. The onus is now on their bowlers to keep them in the fray.

 

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