Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, 6th T20I, tri-series: Two reasons why Afghanistan lost the match

Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan in the 6th T20I of the tri-series by four wickets. With this win, Bangladesh have broken their losing streak of four consecutive T20Is against Afghanistan.

Batting first, Afghanistan scored 138-7 in 20 overs which was chased down by Bangladesh with 4 wickets in hand and an over to spare. Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan was awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant all-round performance.

After this loss, Afghanistan will look to rectify their mistakes before the final of the series where both the teams will again lock their horns for the title. But before that, let's look at the two main reasons which ended Afghanistan's winning run against Bangladesh in T20 format:

#1. Afghan batsmen lost the plot in the middle-overs

Afghanistan failed to convert their strong start into a big total.

Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (29 runs off 27 balls) and Hazratullah Zazai (47 runs off 35 balls) provided their team a strong start and laid the foundation for a big score. The duo added 75 runs in 9.3 overs for the first wicket. However, After the departure of Zazai Afghanistan batting order collapsed like a pack of cards.

Afghanistan lost their next six wickets for just 39 runs in 7.2 overs which allowed Bangladesh to bounce back into the match. The disciplined bowling by Bangladesh did not let the Afghanistan batsmen to counter the storm and stabilize the innings and accelerate in the death overs to post a competitive total.

2. The 'Shakib' factor

Shakib Al Hasan.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan led his team from the front to defeat Afganistan in the match. Shakib was outstanding with both bat and ball. He bowled an economic quota of 4 overs in which he gave away just 24 runs and took the important wicket of Mohammed Nabi to push Afghanistan on to the back-foot.

Shakib continued his fine run in the match with the bat too during the chase and the Afghanistan bowlers failed to get rid of him which proved too costly for them as he scored an unbeaten 70 off 45 balls to win his team the match.

He was lucky too for getting a 'life' when he edged one off Rashid Khan to the wicket-keeper and Afghanistan did not appeal for it. Even though Afghanistan bowlers were successful in taking wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs to put up a fight, not getting a way to send Shakib out allowed him to bat till the end to take Bangladesh over the finish line.

Also see – World Test Championship Schedule