Bangladesh lose 1st ODI to Afghanistan

The rain-hit first One-Day International (ODI) of the three-match series between Bangladesh and Afghanistan ended in an underwhelming manner as the visitors won the match by 17 runs under the Duckworth and Lewis System after rain stopped the proceedings in Chattogram for the third and final time.

The match had been truncated to a 43-over-a-side contest after two rain interruptiosn in the Bangladesh innings. In between the rain intervals, the Afghan bowlers dominated the Bangladesh batters and restricted them to a sub-par 169-9.

Towhid Hridoy was the only shining light in the Bangladesh batting line-up, scoring 51 off 69 balls. Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi was the pick of the bowlers, claiming 3-24 while leg-spinner Rashid Khan and off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman both claimed a couple of wickets each to choke Bangladesh’s middle order.

The visitors were then set a revised target of 164. In reply, Afghanistan got off to a cautious but solid start thanks to openers Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The opening stand, which yielded 54 runs, was ended by Shakib Al Hasan when he dismissed Gurbaz for 22 in the 16th over.

Afghanistan were under a little bit of pressure when Taskin Ahmed dismissed Rahmat Shah (eight off 14 balls) soon after to reduce them to 70-2 in 19.2 overs. But before the Tigers could exert more pressure, rain started pouring down and ended any chance of Bangladesh pulling off an unlikely win.

Afghan opener Zadran remained unbeaten on 41 off 58 balls while captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was unbeaten on nine off 13 balls at the other end. With the win, Afghanistan take a 1-0 lead in the series. The second ODI will also be held at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on 8 July.

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