Bangladesh humbled by Afghanistan, end tri-series winless

Bangladesh ended their tri-series campaign without a win following another batting collapse as Afghanistan strolled to a comfortable seven-wicket win at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Afghanistan reached 161-3 in 35.3 overs, with captain Rahmat Shah top-scoring with an unbeaten 67. Taskin Ahmed (2-36) and Mustafizur Rahman (1-32) were among the wickets for Bangladesh, but the bowlers could never put the Afghans under any real pressure.

Earlier, Parvez Hossain Emon’s 70 off 96 balls and a dogged 82-ball 41 from Saif Hassan were the only substantial scores in a poor batting display for Bangladesh.

Rashid Khan took 4-31 for Afghanistan, while Yamin Ahmadzai (2-21) and Azmatullah Omarzai (2-27) shared four wickets between them.

Batting first, Bangladesh lost opener Tanzid Hasan and Soumya Sarkar off successive balls against Ahmadzai, while Omarzai dismissed Najmul Hossain Shanto and captain Towhid Hridoy as the Tigers were 28-4 inside seven overs.

Emon and Saif Hassan (41) added 93 for the fifth wicket to get the score to 121-4. But Saif’s dismissal while attempting a big shot against Mohammad Nabi then initiated another collapse, as Bangladesh lost five wickets for 39 runs, and eventually were all out for 160 in 41.2 overs.

Taskin bowled Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal to reduce Afghanistan to 39-2 in the seventh over. Mustafizur then had Ibrahim Zadran caught by Shanto for 34 to make it 95-3.

That was Bangladesh’s last success. Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi (36 not out) added an unbroken 66 to complete the chase, with Mehidy Hasan Miraz and debutant Aliss Al Islam failing to stem the runs.

Bangladesh needed to win the match by 41 runs or more to secure a spot in the final.

But after the result, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe will play the final on Friday.

Bangladesh had earlier begun the series with a 99-run defeat to Zimbabwe.