Afghanistan completed a comfortable five-wicket victory in an ODI fixture against Bangladesh on Monday (November 11) in Sharjah. With this win, they also secured a 2-1 ODI series victory.
Choosing to bat first, the Tigers got off to a fine start with their openers, Tanzid Hasan and Soumya Sarkar. The pair was steering the team well, before Azmatullah Omarzai breached the defense of Sarkar (24) to break the 53-run stand. The wicket certainly opened the floodgates for the Afghan side.
Mohammad Nabi dismissed Tanzid (19) and Zakir Hasan (4) was run-out, as Bangladesh were under pressure. Soon, Rashid Khan got rid of Towhid Hridoy (7), to further pile misery on the Bangladesh side.
Nevertheless, skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz put together a terrific stand with veteran batter Mahmudullah. After assessing the surface well, the duo pushed the team’s total at a fine pace. Omarzai managed to break their partnership in the 46th over, as he dismissed Miraz (66). However, the duo stitched a 145-run chase to bring the team back into the game.
Then, Mahmudullah played a valiant knock of 98, with seven fours and three sixes. He was unfortunately run-out on the last ball of the innings. The Bangladesh side compiled a total of 244 on the board, with Omarzai picking four wickets for the Afghanistan side.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz drives Afghanistan to ODI series victory
In response to a 245-run target, Afghanistan started well, riding on Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s lusty blows. The right-hander continued with his positive mindset, despite losing his partner Sediqullah Atal (14) early.
Thereafter, Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Rahmat Shah (8) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (6) to put Afghanistan in a spot of bother. Nevertheless, Omarzai arrived at the crease to offer strong support to Gurbaz.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz went on to register his eighth ODI hundred and was dismissed in the 39th over by Mehidy Hasan Miraz. He slammed 101 off 120, with five fours and seven sixes.
Thereafter, Omarzai (70* off 77) and Mohammad Nabi (34* off 27) remained unbeaten, as Afghanistan sealed the game with 10 balls to spare.
Omarzai was awarded the Player of the Match for his all-round contributions, while Nabi won Player of the Series award after emerging as the top-scorer with 135 runs and also taking two wickets.
In the post-match presentation, Nabi expressed his desire to play the 2025 Champions Trophy and said:
In my mind from the last World Cup, I thought of retiring, if I play one Champions Trophy it will be great for me. Just small contributions from my side to the youngsters and my insight to them will be more useful. Lot of time I speak to Ghazanfar and Nangeyalia on what to bowl. Last series I did not do well with the bat, I worked hard before the series, that was my target to perform in this series and great to perform for the team. Spoke with Omarzai and told him to look for the singles, play straight and boundary will come, the wicket is easy.”
