Afghanistan spinners restrict reckless Bangladesh to 127/7

Mossadek Hossain (48 not out off 31 balls) was the sole Bangladesh batter who played smartly and saved Bangladesh the blushes.

Sharjah:Afghanistan's star spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan ran through a reckless Bangladesh batting line-up to restrict the opposition to 127 for seven in the Asia Cup here on Tuesday. Mossadek Hossain (48 not out off 31 balls) was the sole Bangladesh batter who played smartly and saved Bangladesh the blushes.

It was the pacers who rocked Sri Lanka in Afghanistan's earlier match but the team's traditional strength, the spin, wreaked havoc here as Mujeeb and Rashid shared three wickets each. The spinners had a clear plan to target the stumps and Bangladesh batters chose to play cross-batted strokes against them, leading to their downfall.

Read: Bournemouth sack Parker days after 9-0 Liverpool humiliation

Mujeeb broke the backbone of Bangladesh batting by striking thrice in the powerplay. He used the slider effectively to get through left-handed Mohammad Naim's (6) stumps before Anamul Haque (5) went for the slog sweep only to be trapped in front of the stumps.

Read: Watch: Kohli sweats it out ahead of match against Hong Kong

Mujeeb's third scalp was of opposition skipper Shakib Al Hasan (11) who played a poor shot to see his stumps dislodged. Number one spinner Rashid then joined the party by removing the seasoned Mushfiqur Rahim (1) with a googly. He got rid of left-handed Afif Hussain (12 off 15 balls) with a leg-break, leaving Bangladesh in dire straits at 53 for five. The quick pace both the spinners bowl at did not give the batters time to free their arms.

The experienced Mahmudullah (25) and Hossain tried to stabilise the innings but the damage was already done. Medium pacer Azamatullah Omarzai was brought into the attack in the 20th over in which he did well to concede just seven runs.

PTI