Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by eight runs in the ninth game of the Asia Cup 2025 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Tuesday. Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan's efforts go in vain as Bangladesh spinners and Mustafizur Rahman ensure Bangladesh win a tightly fought game in Abu Dhabi.
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The start of the game saw the Afghanistan pacers Azmatullah Omarzai and Fazalhaq Farooqi creating havoc for the openers in the first two overs with their incredible display of seam bowling. However, the struggles of the batters ended in the third over, and Tanzid got a lifeline in the third due to a brain-fade moment between which cost the bowling side four runs and a wicket. Straight after the mishap, the opening batters started to find the boundaries and scored at a brisk rate. With a flurry of boundaries towards the end, the Tigers finished the power play on a score of 59/0. Unfortunately, as soon as the partnership started to look threatening, Rashid Khan broke the partnership of 63 with a wicket of Saif in the seventh by bamboozling him with a well-executed wrong'un. The Afghans seemed to have made a comeback in the game, as Noor Ahmad dismissed Bangladesh captain Litton Das cheaply in the 11th over. Despite running out of partners, Tanzid continued to play his shots until he was finally dismissed in the 13th over by Noor after a well-made 52 off 31 deliveries. This wicket got the game back in the balance with the score reading 104/3. The runs started to dry up for the Tigers after the dismissal, as Shamim Hossain succumbed under pressure in the 16th over, as he became the next victim of the Afghanistan captain. Towhid Hridoy tried to keep the score moving with his 26-run cameo but was dismissed by Omarzai in the 19th as soon as he started to find his feet. In the end, the Bangladesh batters could only manage 33 runs in the last five overs and ended on a slightly below par score of 152/5.
Although the Afghan bowlers did a great job restricting the Bangladesh innings at the death, they could not follow it up with the bat, as Nasum Ahmed created havoc with the new ball with an amazing spell. The talented left-arm spinner started with a wicket maiden in the first over of the match, with a scalp of Afghan Opener Sediqullah Atal, who was caught plump in front of his stumps. The talented left-arm spinner did not stop there as he dismissed Ibrahim Zadran in the fifth over as well, as Afghanistan finished the powerplay on a score of 27/2. The struggles for the Afghans began as Gulbadin Naib was also dismissed cheaply in the ninth over by Rishad Hossain. There was a bit of hope created by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who started to find his rhythm after a sluggish start, until he was dismissed by Rishad in the 11th over. As the Afghan keeper’s solid-looking knock of 35 came to an end, the situation went from bad to worse for Afghanistan as the score read 64/4 after 11 overs. It seemed like the Bangladeshi bowlers would dominate the game as Mohammad Nabi was dismissed in the 13th over by Mustafizur Rahman. Still, Azmatullah Omarzai kept his team in the game with a few big hits and brought the equation down to 56 off the last 30 deliveries. Unfortunately, his quickfire knock of 30 off 15 balls came to an end in the 16th over by Taskin Ahmed. Despite the loss of Omarzai Rashid kept hopes alive with a few boundaries. However, Mustafizur brought the game back in Bangladesh's favor with a couple of scalps in the 19th and left 22 runs in the last over. Though Noor tried to get the game as close as possible with a couple of big hits, Taskin kept his nerve and ensured a thrilling eighth-run win.
He should have played till end!
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