Afif-Miraz's record-breaking partnership scripts epic comeback after early collapse

They say, "It's not done until it's done." After losing as many as six wickets inside 12 overs, the number of people expecting Bangladesh to emerge victorious at the end of the day was not many. The responsibility was on Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz to pull off a humongous task. Before the game, the duo had one fifty in ODIs between them but the two youngsters broke many records before taking their team home to an extremely unlikely victory against Afghanistan at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. With the four-wicket win, Bangladesh went 1-0 up in the three-match series.

Chasing 216, Afif and Miraz scripted a comeback for the ages against a world-class bowling attack. Their unbroken partnership of 174 was the second-highest stand for the seventh wicket in ODI history and the highest while chasing. Miraz's unbeaten 81 was the highest individual score at number eight or lower for Bangladesh in ODIs. Afif's 93 not out too was the highest by a Bangladeshi at number seven in this format.

Despite conceding two boundaries in his first over, Fazalhaq Farooqi put on quite an exhibition of pace, swing and accuracy. His first victim was Litton Das who nicked the ball to keeper Gurbaz. He was initially not given out but Afghanistan made the best use of DRS.

Afghanistan once again made a successful use of it two balls later and this time it was Tamim who was adjudged leg-before. 

Farooqi came back in his next over to trap Mushfiqur in front and clean up the debutant Yasir Ali. Bangladesh were 18 for four after five overs.

Onus was on Shakib and Mahmudullah to bail Bangladesh out of trouble but the former was bowled off an inside-edge by Mujeeb-ur-Rahman. Shakib's dismissal left Bangladesh reeling at 28 for five in the 8th over and it was just the seventh time Bangladesh lost five wickets or more inside the powerplay.

Nothing went in favour of Bangladesh when they were batting. Rashid Khan came in to bowl the 12th over and immediately sent Mahmudullah packing and the hosts were five down for 45.

After a horror start, Afif Hossain and Miraz steadied the ship. They took a bit of time early on to get used to the pace. Afif showed good composure and timed the ball nicely from the beginning. On the other hand, Miraz was decent against pace but struggled initially a bit against spin. But the duo kept on rotating the strike, running hard between wickets and hitting the odd boundaries. 

Afif drove the ball well through the covers and was very strong square on the on-side. The southpaw reached his maiden ODI fifty off 64 balls. Shortly after that, they brought up 100 runs between them off 142 balls.

Miraz played two fantastic pull-shots off Yamin Ahmadzai and notched up his second fifty in ODIs off 79 deliveries. Bangladesh then required 62 off 84 deliveries. 

Nabi and Rashid put a bit of pressure on the duo with some dot balls and the required run rate at one stage touched six. But Afif hit two boundaries off Rashid and Farooqi to calm the nerves and brought the equation down to 31 off 36.

The duo ensured they finished the game without any more hiccups. The winning runs came off the bat of Afif Hossain. Bangladesh got over the line with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, Mustafizur Rahman got rid of the in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz in just his second over. But his new-ball partner Taskin Ahmed was a bit wayward in the opening spell with his line. He gave away 26 runs off his first four overs that included a 15-run over which prompted Tamim Iqbal to bring about a change in bowling.

Shakib Al Hasan and Shoriful Islam conceded just 16 runs between the 9th and 14th over and pressure started mounting on Rahmat Shah and Ibrahim Zadran.

Zadran was the second batter to go back to the shed as he failed to make use of the reprieve he got in the sixth over. Shoriful Islam accounted for the wicket. Zadran added 45 off 10.5 overs with Shah.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shoriful made Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi wait for a long time to get off the mark. The duo dried up runs for Afghanistan and Taskin, coming back to bowl his second spell, scalped Shah who was well-set on 34.

Just when Shahidi was looking comfortable after a tough start and looking to build a partnership with Najibullah Zadran, Tamim brought Mahmudullah to roll his arm over and he immediately did the trick by removing Shahidi. He made 28 off 43. Afghanistan were 102 for four after 28 overs.

Mohammad Nabi came out to bat at six and built an important partnership with Najibullah. The latter was the aggressor in the partnership. He negated Shakib well, picking up three boundaries off him. Nabi too looked solid and the duo added a run-a-ball 63 to up the current run rate. 

Taskin once again broke the partnership in his third spell by getting Nabi out caught behind for 20. 

Najibullah reached his fifty off 70 balls after a slow start. He added 29 with Gulbadin Naib before Shakib picked him up in the 45th over. Rashid Khan played a couple of dot balls and Shakib cleaned him up in the last ball of his ninth over.

Shoriful got the all-important wicket of Najibullah in the penultimate over. The southpaw top-scored with 67 off 84 deliveries with the help of four fours and two sixes.

Mustafizur returned three for 35 and Taskin, Shoriful and Shakib bagged two wickets apiece. 

Afghanistan were bowled out for 215 in 49.1 overs.