PV Sports Desk : Afghanistan won by 6 wickets as they scored targeted 134 runs for four wickets in 18.5 overs.
Earlier, Rashid Khan was the star of the show, bagging four wickets for 12 runs in his four overs as Afghanistan restricted Tigers to 134 for eight wickets.
The difference between the two sides playing the second T20I in Dehradun yesterday was evident in the way Bangladesh played their last six overs and the way Afghanistan managed the same passage in the first T20I on Sunday. Afghanistan had plundered 76 runs after being reduced to 91 for four at the end of the 14th over but yesterday, Bangladesh could score just 35 runs for the loss of four wickets from a score of 99 for four after 14. Given their bowling woes in the first match, it is doubtful whether a score of 134 for eight can keep Bangladesh alive in the three-match series.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan and a settled Tamim Iqbal were at the crease, but it was once again the leg spin of Rashid Khan that broke the Tigers’ back. Unlike Bangladesh in the first match, Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai had the wisdom of bowling his spinners even when the slog was on and Rashid repaid that faith in the 16th over when he took three wickets. Shakib was caught at long on for three, Tamim swept all around a googly to be bowled for a 48-ball 43 and Mosaddek Hossain fell to a first-ball duck when an apparently undetectable googly had him plumb in front.
