Bangladesh need to chase 116 in 12.1 overs for a spot in semifinal
The bowlers asked questions but the Afghanistan duo managed to keep their wickets intact in the powerplay.
Rishad Hossain's brilliant three-wicket haul helped Bangladesh hold Afghanistan to 115-5 in a crucial encounter in the T20 World Cup at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown.
Bangladesh now need to chase down the target of 116 in 12.1 overs to reach the semifinal.
On a two-paced wicket, Bangladesh opening bowlers Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Taskin Ahmed bowled with a lot of heart, hit the pitch and made life difficult for Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran with the ball nibbling around a bit.
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The bowlers asked questions but the Afghanistan duo managed to keep their wickets intact in the powerplay. After six overs, they were 27-0.
Gurbaz and Ibrahim saw off the early threat successfully and continued to put pressure on Bangladesh with their electric running between the wickets.
After a match-winning hundred partnership, the duo added 59 off 64 before Rishad Hossain got the better of Ibrahim (18 off 29).
Bangladesh managed to dry the runs up with an array of dot balls after Ibrahim's dismissal. The period between the 11th to 15th over was quite productive for Bangladesh as they conceded just 22 runs.
The dot balls led to the dismissal of Omarzai in the 16th over as he nicked one to Litton Das off Mustafizur Rahman.
Rishad came back to snare Gurbaz (43 off 55) at a crucial juncture of the game. In the same over, Soumya Sarkar took an absolute blinder to send back Gulbadin Naib, running in from deep cover.
Taskin returned to claim the wicket of Mohammad Nabi and finished with exceptional figures of 4-1-12-1.
Mustafizur (one for 17) bowled an exceptional penultimate over to keep a rampant Rashid Khan quiet.
But the Afghanistan captain (19* off 10) hit two sixes in the final over to get the score to 115.
