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Afghanistan was looking like they will soon be out of the contest when they suffered a major collapse in the middle overs when Shakib Al Hasan took 4 wickets during their clash with Bangladesh. Afghanistan had Shahidi's fifty to thank for giving them a platform. Then came Rashid Khan; the blue-eyed boy of Afghanistan Cricket. Naib and Rashid added 95 runs from 55 balls in the last 9 overs to take Afghanistan to a more than respectable total of 255/7.
In reply Bangladesh never really got going. They kept losing wickets regularly and the bowling attack consisting of Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Aftab Alam stifled the batsmen on the slow and low Abu Dhabi pitch. Bangladesh succumbed to the pressure and finally were all out for 119. It was a match to remember for Rashid Khan. The bowler turned 20 today, scored a 31 ball fifty and took 2-13 in 9 overs to hand Afghanistan a historic victory.
Cricket experts and fans had a lot to say about this astonishing victory.
Mashrafe Mortaza
Mortaza blamed the death bowling of his bowlers that gave the initiative away to Afghanistan from the 40th over in the first innings. He was happy with the fact that Mustafizur has returned from injury and will play tomorrow against India.
Asghar Afghan
The Afghan skipper praised Rashid and Naib for their heroics in the last 10 overs of their innings. He also showed trust in his bowlers and fielders saying that the score of 255 gave them the confidence to go out there and express themselves on the field.
Twitter too went crazy after the historic win.
There were fans who gave a thought as to what would have been Rashid Khan's and Mujeeb Ur Rahman's future had they been born in India.
Some fans took us back to the time when there was controversy surrounding a photoshopped image used by Bangladesh cricket board to show their superiority over India and Dhoni.
Rashid Khan was celebrating his birthday today and what better way then to give yourself the gift of the Man Of The Match award.
Jatin Sapru
Commentator Jatin Sapru was quick to point out the difference that Rashid Khan makes to the Afghanistan team, while also highlighting the fact that the party has just begun for Afghanistan's hero.
Umar Farooq Kalson
Pakistan Cricket expert highlighted the fact that Inzamam, when he was the coach of Afghanistan in 2015, had fought with the Board to include Rashid in his team. The Board had discarded Rashid's name in the initial list but after Inzamam's request, Rashid was finally included.
There were some more funny tweets as well.
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