Bangladesh lose 8 for 23 as Ghazanfar spins Afghanistan to victory

Nabi and Shahidi hit half-centuries before Ghazanfar returned career best figures of 6 for 26 to stun Bangladesh

Afghanistan 235 (Nabi 84, Shahidi 52, Taskin 4-53, Mustafizur 4-58) beat Bangladesh 143 (Shanto 47, Sarkar 33, Ghazanfar 6-26) by 92 runs

Substitute wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil had allowed Najmul Hossain Shanto to get away on 21, Mohammad Nabi had sent down Mehidy Hasan Miraz on 1, Gulbadin Naib had let the ball slip out of his hands with Mehidy on 4 and Afghanistan had wasted both their reviews. At the half-way stage of their run chase, Bangladesh were still 118 runs short of their target of 236 and still had eight wickets in hand.

Then the madness: AM Ghazanfar sent back one Bangladesh batter after another. From 120 for 2 in the 26th over, Bangladesh lost 8 for 23 to get bowled out inside the 35th over and lost by 92 runs. Ghazanfar finished with a career-best 6 for 26, while Rashid Khan bagged two wickets, as Afghanistan's spinners ran through Bangladesh.

It was Mohammad Nabi, though, who started the slide. In a field change that was to prove a stroke of genius, he left square leg empty and introduced a second slip for Shanto. Bangladesh's captain succumbed to the temptation at once, and came down the track to paddle sweep at a length ball slightly wide of off stump. He reached out for it, and the top edge popped up for Hashmatullah Shahidi to catch on the fourth attempt at short fine leg.

That ended a 55-run stand between Shanto, who scored 47, and Mehidy. That wicket gave Bangladesh momentum, and in five more overs, Bangladesh was forced to lose one more; in the 31st, Mehidy was that wicket again at fine leg, after running all the way to his left before diving across to finish the take, this from Azmatullah Omarzai. Ghazanfar had bowled one wicket until then- Tanzid Hasan had been run out in the fourth over - but after that came his second as well.

Coming down to the 33rd over, he had stumped Mushfiqur Rahim, Rishad Hossain lbw and bowled Taskin Ahmed - all of them with carrom balls. Over before that Rashid had cleaned up Mahmudullah with a googly. By this stage, it was only the matter of interest whether Ghazanfar would end his over by completing the hat-trick since he had taken Rishad and Tasking with successive deliveries of the same over. There were two wickets standing and Rashid ended Towhid Hridoy's innings also with another googly.

Though Ghazanfar couldn't get the hat-trick at the start of the 35th over, two balls later had Shoriful Islam bowled to wrap up a dramatic win.

Afghanistan's triumph was designed by two divergent knocks after they had been 71 for 5 in 20 overs. While Shahidi was second fiddle in an innings of 52 from 92 balls, Nabi cracked 84 off 79 deliveries. Their partnership of 104 provided Afghanistan with a platform to work from, after Mustafizur Rahman had struck three times and Taskin twice.

While Shahidi was happy being the accumulative singles man, Nabi came out with far more intent. He launched his sixth ball, by Rishad, high over deep midwicket for a huge six. He repeated the shot with the same outcome off the same bowler in the 27th over. In between, Bangladesh squandered a review when Rishad and Mushfiqur believed that Shahidi had edged to the keeper only for the replays to show that there was a big gap between the bat and the ball.

The fifty stand between Shahidi and Nabi came in the 30th over. Then Nabi savoured a spate of of luck. First, when on 37 in the 34th over, he went sweeping at Rishad but was struck on his front pad, with neither the umpire giving it out nor Bangladesh opting to review, when DRS would have sent Nabi back. In the 37th, immediately after hitting his fifty, Nabi slog-swept Rishad but mis-timed, the ball coming in just short of the man at long-off, who was coming forward. In the next over, Nabi went jabbing at a ball from Mahmudullah and got an outside edge that streaked away through the vacant slip region.

Shahidi, however, took 87 balls to reach fifty and was satisfied to play for singles and twos. He nearly got run out in the first ball of the 40th over when he pushed the ball to point and both batsmen started running. But Shahidi, who was halfway down, was sent back by Nabi, and he just managed to make it before Mushfiqur whipped the bails off.

However, he dispatched on off Mustafizur in the 41st and Rashid pulled one to midwicket off Shoriful, within that very next over. Still, Nabi remained undisturbed. He ensured Afghanistan went past the 200 with four overs still to spare and smashed Mustafizur over midwicket for six off the second ball of the 47th. Kharote, who took to the field after the dismissal of Rashid added an unbeaten 27 with two fours and one six during the last two overs. Taskin disposed of back-to-back in that very last over in the 48th.

Taskin and Mustafizur finished with four wickets apiece as Bangladesh effectively restricted Afghanistan to 235.