ABU DHABI, Thursday: One of the fastest rising stars in world cricket Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan celebrated his 20th birthday in style by scoring an unbeaten half-century and taking his team to a total in excess of 250 runs which could prove quite a challenging one for Bangladesh in the final group match of the Asia Cup cricket tournament being played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Thursday.
Afghanistan who won the toss and batted first - in a match that is inconsequential to the tournament as both teams have qualified for the Super Four stage – didn’t look like even getting past the 200-run mark when they lost their seventh wicket at 160.
But Rashid who joined Gulbadin Naib changed the course of the innings with a record eighth wicket stand of 95 for his country that took them to a final total of 255-7.
Rashid smashed four fours in the final over bowled by Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza to reach a brilliant fifty off 31 balls and with it help his team cross the 250-run mark.
Rashid ended up unbeaten on 57 off 32 balls that included eight fours and one six while his partner Naib who played a passive role scored 42 not out off 38 balls (5 fours).
It is a stiff target that Bangladesh will find hard to reach because no team has chased down more than 200 in this Asia Cup. The Tigers are going to come up against Rashid who has an integral role to play with the ball.
Bangladesh are without Tamim Iqbal (injured and out of the tournament) and Mushfiqur Rahim (rested) their two senior most batsmen for this match. So it is a huge challenge in front of them.
The early part of the Bangladesh batting was provided by Mohammad Shahzad (37) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (58) who figured in a half century stand before Shakib Al Hasan stifled their middle order with three wickets.
He ended up taking four for 24 in 10 tidy overs, but once he was finished the Afghanistan eighth wicket pair turned the innings around with some sensational batting especially from the birthday boy.
[B’desh struggle in run chase]
Bangladesh chasing 256 runs for victory was struggling at 59 for four wickets at the end of 20 overs in their Asia Cup Group B match against Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi. Bangladesh 59-4 in 20 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 24 n.o., Gulbadin Naib 2/19)
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