Asia Cup Match 5 BAN 222 lost to AFG (254/6) by 32 runs

Afghanistan 254 for 6 (Stanikzai 90*, Shenwari 81) v Bangladesh 222 (Mominul 50, Nabi 3-44, Hassan 2-26) by 32 runs 

The indomitable spirit that has characterised Afghanistan's sharp rise in world cricket hadn't glowed brighter than it did in Fatullah. Playing in the Asia Cup for the first time, Afghanistan not only defeated Bangladesh, the Test-playing hosts, they almost managed to sneak out a bonus point too. Bangladesh, who took 28 matches to register their first-win against a major country, were left embarrassed by a younger nation playing only its fourth match against a major team.

Asghar Stanikzai and Samiullah Shenwari added 164 for the sixth wicket in 138 balls to lift Afghanistan from 90 for 5 in the 27th over to a strong 254 against Bangladesh. The Afghanistan bowlers then ensured they maintained the intensity and produced an all-round bowling performance to shock the hosts.

The two batsmen had come together at a stage when Bangladesh spinners were busy closing all escape doors, but they went through a careful rebuilding phase till the 40th over, before exploding in the last 10 to amass 107 runs - easily their best performance in the final overs. The stand was broken on the penultimate delivery of the innings when Shenwari was run-out for 81, but Stanikzai stayed unbeaten on 90 off 103 balls. Bangladesh, who had a firm grip on the proceedings for 80% of the innings, fell apart in the last 20%.

Rubel Hossain was smashed for 40 in his last four overs, Abdur Razzak and Arafat Sunny were whipped for 25 and 19 in their last two and Ziaur Rahman was taken for 16 as Stanikzai and Shenwari hit 12 fours and four sixes in the last 10 overs, beating the 88 they scored against Scotland in 2009.

Shenwari was the one who announced the change in momentum with consecutive boundaries off the last two balls of the 40th over, off Razzak. He reached his half-century, in 54 balls, with a sliced shot that raced to the point boundary and followed it up with a reverse-sweep. The best of his 11 hits to the boundary was the one that cleared it. Razzak, bowling from over the wicket, had seen Shenwari step out and bowled it wide outside off, but the batsman stretched out and connected beautifully to lift the ball to the sightscreen.

Then Stanikzai, who had been the quieter of the two - he hit his first boundary off the 74th ball - joined in smashing a six and a four in the 44th over, bowled by Rubel. The first of the two shots brought him his half-century. He also provided the perfect finish, hitting another set of a six and a four in the last over. The third delivery of the over was whacked over midwicket and the fourth, a wide full-toss, was sliced to deep point. By the time he finished, Stanikzai had hit six fours and three sixes to reach his career-best score.

The confidence that had surged in the Afghanistan innings oozed through their shots as what had been a slow pitch hardly made a difference. Length deliveries frequently disappeared into gaps at deep midwicket or covers and spinners' flight or flatter trajectory made no impact. Bangladesh's fielding too buckled under pressure as couple of easy catches were dropped while the ground fielding allowed extra runs. The beating that the bowlers' figures took was sharply in contrast with the way they had started the day. Adding to the hosts' woes, Sohag Gazi suffered injury to his right-hand after bowling only three deliveries.

The energy that had charged the Afghanistan innings spilled over to the their bowling. Shapoor Zadran generated enough pace in his first over to rattle the openers. He capped it off with a wicket off the fifth ball that cut Shamsur Rahman into half and sent his offstump cartwheeling. Bowling from the other end, Hamid Hassan surprised Anamul Haque with his pace and trapped the opener lbw. The storm that had hit Bangladesh in the first innings was showing no sign of abatement. The hosts were down to 1 for 2.

Bangladesh's chances of revival rested on their captain, Mushfiqur, and Mominul Haque. The two set about scripting a recovery in much the same fashion as the protagonists of Afghanistan's innings: The defensive shots were interspersed with attractive hits to the boundary. Mominul, particularly, made sure any loose delivery didn't go unpunished, pulling and driving every time an opportunity presented. He reached his half-century in 71 deliveries and 68 for the third wicket.

The partnership was broken by Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi when he beat Mushfiqur in flight and had him lbw. Mominul left 19 runs later, yorked by a Shenwari delivery. Bangladesh could have been in danger of folding too early had Afghanistan grabbed the numerous chances Nasir Hossain offered. Bangladesh's stylish No. 5 was dropped four times - on 1, 4, 14 and 31 - before eventually getting caught for 41 by Shenwari, who had dropped him twice. By that time, he had added 73 for the fifth wicket. Although the required run rate had climbed to over eight an over, the partnership kept the hosts' hopes alive.

That though changed soon as Bangladesh lost four wickets for four runs, three of them in three balls spread across two overs. A hard-hitting cameo from Zia-ur-Rahman, who hit 42 off 22 deliveries, avoided Bangladesh ignominy of handing the opponents a bonus point, but it just proved to be a flutter. 

Afghanistan 254 for 6 (Stanikzai 90*, Shenwari 81) v Bangladesh

The indomitable spirit that has characterised Afghanistan's sharp rise in world cricket was on show again in Fatullah. Asghar Stanikzai and Samiullah Shenwari added 164 runs for the sixth wicket in 138 balls to lift Afghanistan from 90 for 5 in the 27th over to a strong 254 against Bangladesh.

The two batsmen had come together at a stage when Bangladesh spinners were busy closing all escape doors, but they went through a careful rebuilding phase till the 40th over, before exploding in the last 10 to amass 107 runs - easily their best performance in the final overs. 

The stand was broken on the penultimate delivery of the innings when Shenwari was run-out for 81, but Stanikzai stayed unbeaten on 90 off 103 balls. Bangladesh, who had a firm grip on the proceedings for 80% of the innings, fell apart in the last 20%. 

Rubel Hossain was smashed for 40 in his last four overs, Abdur Razzak and Arafat Sunny were whipped for 25 and 19 in their last two and Ziaur Rahman was taken for 16 as Stanikzai and Shenwari hit 12 fours and four sixes in the last 10 overs, beating the 88 they scored against Scotland in 2009.

Shenwari was the one who announced the change in momentum with consecutive boundaries off the last two balls of the 39th over, off Razzak. He reached his half-century, in 54 balls, with a sliced shot that raced to the point boundary and followed it up with a reverse-sweep.

Then Stanikzai, who had been the quieter of the two - his first boundary came in the 42nd over, joined in smashing a six and a four in the 44th over, bowled by Rubel. The first of the two shots brought him his half-century. By the time he finished though, Stanikzai had hit four more boundaries and two more sixes to reach his career-best score.

The confidence that had surged in the Afghanistan innings started to ooze through their shots as what had been a slow pitch hardly made a difference. Length deliveries disappeared into gaps at deep midwicket or covers and spinners' flight or flatter trajectory made no impact. 

Bangladesh's fielding too buckled under pressure as couple of easy catches were dropped while the ground fielding allowed extra runs. The beating that the bowlers' figures took was sharply in contrast with the way they had started the day. Adding to the hosts' woes, Sohag Gazi suffered injury to his right-hand after bowling only three deliveries.

It was clear at the toss that Bangladesh were going to put Afghanistan through a trial by spin as Mushfiqur responded to the known slowness in the Fatullah pitch by including an additional spinner. Sunny, the left-arm orthodox bowler, was brought in to replace the injured Mashrafe and was the second spinner to bowl inside the first 10 overs; Razzak had opened the bowling with Rubel and had the batsmen in a leash as he gave away only nine runs in his four overs. Sunny, too, matched the senior spinner, giving away just one in his first over.

In his next two overs though, Sunny removed the two batsmen who had been busy putting up a resistance since the fall of Mohammad Shahzad in the third over. Karim Sadiq attempted to break the shackles in Sunny's second over by hitting the bowler for a straight six, but lobbed a leading edge back to the bowler two balls later. 

In Sunny's next over, Najibullah Zadran, who had hit two fours in his 21, stepped out of the pitch too early, but got himself into a tangle after realising he was not to the pitch of the delivery. Najibullah tried to make a late adjustment but his choice of shot - a late cut - neither helped him cover the line or respond to the length. The ball slipped under the massive gap between his bat and pad and Afghanistan slipped to 43 for 3 in the 14th over.

Bangladesh ran through their overs, bowling five more by the time first drinks were called, giving away just 14 runs. Afghanistan showed signs of changed intent immediately after the break; Nawroz Mangal stepped out first ball against Sunny and found the boundary at long-on with a drive. Fifteen runs came off the next two overs. But the urgency cost Mangal his wicket as he tried to steal a non-existent single to point and was comfortably beaten by Naeem Islam's throw as he tried to get back belatedly.

Afghanistan situation worsened as their captain Mohammad Nabi edged Mominul Haque, the fifth spinner used by Bangladesh on the day, to first slip. Afghanistan hobbled past 100 in the 30th over.