Bangladesh, who were reeling in the circle of loss, got a relief victory in Sharjah last night. In the second ODI of the series, Nazmul Hossain Shanta's team returned to parity after defeating Afghanistan by 68 runs. Bangladesh has played well in all three categories – batting, bowling and fielding.
In the death overs where Bangladesh usually suffer the most, they played brilliantly last night. After winning the toss and batting first, at one stage the score was 200 runs for 6 wickets in 45 overs. Shantar's team lost 1 wicket and added 52 runs in the last five overs. Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi felt that scoring 252 runs for 7 wickets on the scoreboard on such a slow wicket of Sharjah was enough for Bangladesh. “I think they (Bangladesh) scored 40 runs in the last 5 overs and that's the reason,” Shahidi said at the award ceremony after the match.
Bangladesh had a great start yesterday. Scored 59 runs for 1 wicket in the first Powerplay (10 overs). Zaker Ali Anik and Nasum Ahmed made up for it despite a slight collapse in the middle of the match. These two batsmen made a pair of 46 runs off 41 balls for the seventh wicket. Out of which Bangladesh took 18 runs by returning Fazal Haq Farooqui who came bowling in the 47th over. Out of which Zaker hit 2 sixes in ODI. Nasum hits a four in this over.
Zaker, who made his ODI debut yesterday, hit Farooqui for a six off the last ball of the innings. Zaker scored 37 runs off 27 balls with 1 four and 2 sixes. He couldn't do that though. Whereas Shahidi failed to take the catch of Azmatullah Omarzai in the first ball of the 49th over. Zaker's run was 19. Besides, Farooqui, one of the best pacers of Afghanistan, bowled 69 runs in 7 overs. He was wicketless despite scoring 10 runs per over. Shahidi said, 'In the first 10 overs, our bowling was not as expected. The last 5 overs have suffered. Because we gave too many runs. We will think about it.'
Sediqullah Atal and Rehmat Shah continued to progress with a 52-run partnership for the second wicket yesterday. Nasum broke the pair by returning Sediqullah. Later, the name collapsed in the middle order. Afghanistan became 118 runs for 5 wickets from 118 runs for 2 wickets. Afghans have lost these three wickets in 1 over. Shahidi said, 'We have been losing wickets continuously in batting. A few more pairs were needed. We will sit together and talk about it before the last match.' Bangladesh-Afghanistan will face each other in the series deciding third ODI in Sharjah tomorrow. The match will start at 4 pm Bangladesh time.
