Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, Asia Cup Match 3, Stats Review: Shakib Al Hasan’s milestone, Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s feat, and other stats

Afghanistan’s spin twins Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan took three wickets apiece before Najibullah Zadran’s blitz innings of unbeaten 43 off 17 which included six towering maximums helped their side in defeating Bangladesh by seven wickets in Match 3 of Asia Cup 2022 in Sharjah. Both spinners restricted the Bangla Tigers to just 127/7 in 20 overs with Afghanistan chasing down the target with nine balls to spare. With two wins out of two, they became the first team to qualify for the next round, Super 4.

Talking about how the match unfolded, skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who played his 100^th T20I match, won the toss and elected to bat first. Young spinner Mujeeb wreaked havoc as he dismissed the top three Bangladeshi batters inside the powerplay. Openers Mohammad Naim and Anamul Haque made six and five respectively while Shakib managed only 11. Mujeeb finished his quota of four overs by giving away just 16 runs. If one spinner wasn’t enough, magician Rashid Khan came and got rid of the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim for just one. He also dismissed Afif Hossain and Mahmudullah to end his spell for 3/22 in four overs. With Bangladesh struggling at 53/5, Mosaddek Hossain entered and played a solid knock of unbeaten 48 to take his side to a total of above 125.

Chasing just 128, Rahmanaullah Gurbaz got dismissed by Shakib for just 11 while his opening partner Hazratullah Zazai amassed 23. Mohammad Saifuddin got rid of captain Mohammad Nabi LBW for eight as Afghanistan looked struggling at 62/3 in 13 overs. But Ibrahim Zadran played cautiously as he made an unbeaten 42 off 41 while Najibullah tonked the Bangladeshi bowlers all over the park, smashing six maximums. He powered his side to a convincing victory at the end in the 19^th over to book a place in the Super 4. For his opening spell burst, Mujeeb Ur Rahman grabbed the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Match 3 between Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup 2022:

201 – Mujeeb Ur Rahman reached the landmark of 200 wickets in T20 matches.

100 – Shakib Al Hasan appeared in his milestone 100th T20 international match. He became the 15th player overall and the third Bangladeshi after Mahmudullah (120) and Mushfiqur Rahim (101) to achieve the feat.

11.90 – Mohammad Naim has now scored 119 runs in his last ten T20I innings at a poor average of just 11.90 with zero half-centuries.

3 – Mushfiqur Rahim got dismissed to Rashid Khan for the third time in T20Is, which is the most he has been out against a bowler in this format. Yuzvendra Chahal, Rachin Ravindra, and Graeme Cremer have all dismissed him twice.

2 – Mujeeb became the second youngest bowler (21y 155d) to pick 200 scalps in T20 cricket. His teammate Rashid tops the chart for taking 200 wickets aged 20y 31d.

48 – Mosaddek Hossain registered his highest score of 48 in his 20^th T20 international innings. His previous best was 34* which came against Sri Lanka in 2017.

42 – Ibrahim Zadran also scripted his best score of 42* in the 10^th innings. His previous highest was 36 which came against Ireland earlier this year.

115 – Rashid has now taken the second-most wickets (115) in the shortest international format. He surpassed Tim Southee’s tally of 114 scalps. Shakib Al Hasan is on top for picking up 122 wickets in the format.