‘World Cup se pehle form me aa gaye’ – Fans react as Afghanistan becomes second team after England to win ODI series in Bangladesh in last eight years.

Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by a huge margin of 142 runs in the second ODI to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in a three-match series. With this win, Afghanistan also becomes the second team after England to win an ODI series in Bangladesh in the last eight years. This loss was big shock for the hosts as they have been dominating in their own backyard since 2015.

Before this Bangladesh hosted 13 ODI series since 2015 out of which they won 12. The only series lost came against England. Apart from that, Bangladesh defeated strong teams like South Africa, India, and West Indies. While they also showed their dominance against teams like Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran’s centuries led Afghanistan to a big victory

Talking about the match, Afghanistan posted a total of 331 runs for the loss of 9 wickets, powered by the centuries by Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. In reply, Bangladesh were bowled out for just 189 runs in 43.2 overs.

Batting first, Gurbaz and Zadran put up a mammoth partnership of 256 runs in 36.1 overs. Wicketkeeper batter Gurbaz was the first one to go back to the pavilion after scoring 145 runs off 125 balls hitting 13 fours and eight sixes. He was tricked by Shakib Al Hasan on the pads. While Zadran was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman in the 44th over after scoring 100 runs off 119 balls with nine fours and a maximum.

However, after the partnership was broken, Afghanistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals and lost the chance to get a total of 350 runs that was looking possible a few overs ago. Mohammad Nabi remained unbeaten on 25 runs off 15 balls and helped Afghanistan to cross 300 runs. For Bangladesh, Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud and Mehidy Hasan took 2-2 wickets each. While Ebadot Hossain put 1 in his bag.

Chasing the winning total, Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for under 200 runs in the 44th over. Mushfiqur Rahim was the top scorer with 69 runs off 85 balls with six boundaries. For Afghanistan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Fazalhaq Farooqi shared 3-3 wickets each. Rashid Khan took 2, while Mohammad Nabi put 1 in his bag.

High time teams like Australia and England should start playing bilaterals with Afghanistan specially in Asia … They should be respected more given the fact that they have defeated BAN and PAK in their recent series … Expecting India to schedule bilateral series against them

— Cricket Fanatic (@Loyal_Cricket) July 8, 2023

Small teams are really giving impactful performances after all the competitive cricket leagues. Yes, the leagues are in T20 format, but can boost the confidence significantly among the players. And, that confidence has been transformed into the different formats of the game as…

— Rajesh↙️ (@iamrajeshjena) July 8, 2023

Thats a phenomenal achievement!
Wonderful to see Afghanistan’s rising stature in cricket despite a terrible regime at home!

— Sumit Agarwal 🇮🇳 (@sumitagarwal_IN) July 8, 2023

India, England, Australia. There is a place vacant in top 4 for WC. Afghanistan might get into semifinal with consistency. Consistency and unity in team matter to have success in ODI format.

— Jahnav (@Jahnav7) July 8, 2023

AFG spin bowlers pre match meal : pic.twitter.com/0RbVM82spK

— Anant Kashyap (@theanantkashyap) July 8, 2023

Aaj Bangladesh se Jeeta AFG par kisi ko abhi se Chennai ki Yaad AA rhi hai 😀

— Karan (@MetrataMessi_10) July 8, 2023