NEWS
Follow UsAfghanistan are on a roll in ODI cricket at the moment. They steamrolled Bangladesh by five wickets in the third and final game and won the three match ODI series 2-1 in Sharjah.
The series was poised 1-1 after Bangladesh came back in the second ODI and won it by 68 runs after losing the first by 92. Batting first in the third ODI, they had a great chance to repeat the same performance as the last game on a surface that was gripping and helping the bowlers.
However, the 244/8 they scored in 50 overs were chased down in some style by the Afghan men, who overcame small hiccups along the way to sail home by five wickets. Azmatullah Omarzai (70* and 4/37) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (101) were spectacular for the Afghans as they turned Mahmudullah (98 off 98) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s (66 off 119) efforts futile.
Speaking after the victory, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi praised Omarzai and Gurbaz.
“Very happy as a captain, the way my team performed, proud of the team,” Shahidi said.
“Honestly, when we lost the toss, I was a little bit disappointed. When you see the 2nd innings here, the ball swung and spun, but the boys took responsibility, Gurbaz, Azmat and Nabi played well, proud of them.”
He hoped that Gurbaz and his team could carry this winning momentum to the Champions Trophy, where Afghanistan will be featured for the first time in its history.
“He [Gurbaz] is the matchwinner player; whenever he scored runs, he did a lot for our team; he is very talented and I hope he takes that momentum to the future and to the Champions Trophy.
“The way we are playing right now is very good, if you see everyone is performing and different guys are performing. We will try and make our team even stronger, we have Zimbabwe next, we will try to win that series and take that momentum to the Champions Trophy.”
Nabi, who has already announced that the upcoming ICC tournament will be his last in ODIs for Afghanistan, was the Player of the Series. He scored the most runs (135*) in the series.
“Last series I did not do well with the bat, I worked hard before the series, that was my target to perform in this series and great to perform for the team,” the Afghan veteran said.
Afghanistan are scheduled to visit Zimbabwe for a full-fledged tour next.
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