Bangladesh seal last-over thriller regardless of Janat hat-trick
Bangladesh 157 for 8 (Hridoy 47*, Shamim 33, Janat 3-15) beat Afghanistan 154 for 7 (Nabi 54*, Omarzai 33, Shakib 2-27) by two wickets
Bangladesh overcame a scare to beat Afghanistan by two wickets within the first T20I in Sylhet. Down to 64 for 4 in a chase of 155, Bangladesh owed their turnaround to Towhid Hridoy and Shamim Hossain, whose 73-run stand put them in a snug place. But with two wanted off the final 5 balls, pacer Karim Janat took a hat-trick to maintain Afghanistan within the sport with Hridoy caught on the non-striker’s finish. Shoriful Islam, at No.10, then took Bangladesh dwelling with a cracking reduce shot for 4.
Six runs had been wanted from the ultimate over when Mehidy Hasan Miraz crunched a canopy drive off the primary supply, earlier than throwing his wicket away with a pull to midwicket. Taskin Ahmed was caught behind the next ball, and Nasum Ahmed top-edged a catch to deep third as Janat accomplished the hat-trick. Hridoy was unbeaten on 47 off 32 balls with three fours and two sixes and didn’t face a ball in that ultimate over.
Earlier, Mohammad Nabi‘s fifth half-century in T20Is lifted Afghanistan to a modest whole from 52 for 4. He made 54 off 40 with six fours and a six. Azmatullah Omarzai struck a 18-ball 33 with 4 sixes because the pair added 56 for the sixth wicket in 5.1 overs.
Shamim, Hridoy carry Bangladesh
At the beginning of the thirteenth over, Bangladesh’s required run fee was 9.5 per over and so they had six wickets in hand. Hridoy started the assault by slamming Omarzai’s first ball for 4 over mid-off. He adopted it up with a brutal pull shot for an additional 4. Shamim then struck an awkward-looking pull for an additional boundary. Three extra runs within the final two balls fetched Bangladesh 21 runs within the over, which introduced the asking fee all the way down to 7.85.
With Shamim on 23, Najibullah Zadran dropped a sitter at deep sq. leg, which proved to be a game-changing second. Hridoy and Shamim then scored 16 runs within the subsequent over, bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi. While Shamim received into a clumsy place to play a scoop over fine-leg for 4 whereas dropping stability, Hridoy pulled away a six in that over to ease pressure.