There could be debate around team selection and questions over Bangladesh鈥檚 batting approach against Afghanistan in their Group B match at the Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, but Nasum Ahmed ensured they lived another day to deal with all those.
In their must-win game, Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by eight runs to stay in contention for Super Four of the ongoing Asia Cup, thanks to Nasum鈥檚 almost perfect bowling figure of 4-1-11-2.
Bangladesh will now hope for Sri Lanka to win against Afghanistan in the last match of Group B today. An Afghanistan win can go into Bangladesh鈥檚 favour also, but the huge difference of net run rate makes that scenario highly unlikely.
On Tuesday, after making four changes in the eleven and getting off to a flying start with the bat, Bangladesh were squeezed by the Afghan spin attack as the last 10 overs yielded just 67 runs.
Despite their forgettable records while chasing 150 or more, Afghanistan fancied themselves to get over the line after a stellar bowling performance in the second half.
But then came Nasum, in his first match of this tournament, to open the bowling. The left-arm spinner made an instant impact as Sediqullah Atal was trapped lbw in the first ball of the innings.
鈥業 always fancy bowling with the new ball. When the captain said that I would bowl the first over, I was excited,鈥� said Nasum while taking the player of the match award.
Nasum targeted stumps on a used pitch to make the batters toil to score runs. They had little success against him as he bowled 16 dot balls.
鈥業t is a wonderful and positive aspect that he makes an impact every time he returns to the playing eleven,鈥� said Tanzid Hasan, who scored a blazing 52 off 31.
鈥楬e changed the complexion of the game from his first over. I think we won because of his bowling.
鈥榃e have a lot of healthy competition within the team. Everyone is giving their 100 per cent at every opportunity. He gives the same effort in training and match situations. Everyone does the same in the team,鈥� added Tanzid.
Nasum then had the prized wicket of Ibrahim Zadran to put Afghanistan under more pressure inside the powerplay. Liton held back Nasum for quite a while after his first spell.
Bangladesh didn鈥檛 have a frontline fifth bowler, which almost could have cost them the match. Shamim Hossain and Saif Hassan gave away 55 runs in their collective four overs.
While Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan threatened to snatch the victory away, Nasum came back to bowl a crucial 18th over.
A run-out off his first delivery put Afghanistan under pressure, and Nasum finished off with giving away just four runs in his remaining over. Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman did the rest to pull off the win.
Tanzid said, 鈥榃e have a world-class bowling line-up who are well experienced in T20s. We believed that we could defend the total. The credit goes to the bowlers.鈥�
