Bangladesh were all set to extend their dominance over Afghanistan in the 50-over format at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday. After bowling Afghanistan out for what seemed like an under-par score of 235, they seemed well in control of the run-chase up until the halfway stage. However, that was when a total breakdown ensued, leaving the visitors embarrassed at the end of it all.
Ace all-rounder of Bangladesh, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, attributed the crushing 92-run loss to the stark nature of the pitch post the 20th over of his side's innings. However, he took equal responsibility for the defeat.
"When Shanto and I were batting, the wicket seemed easy to bat on but after the 20th over when the ball became soft, it started to turn a lot all of a sudden. You could see that the two of us were struggling in the middle despite being set. But yes, one of us should have finished it considering the fact that we were set. I kept telling Shanto that since we were struggling on this wicket, the batters after us would find it way more difficult," stated Mehidy, as quoted by The Daily Star.
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The set batters should have finished things on a wicket like this: Mehidy
While Mehidy further elaborated on the challenging behaviour the surface exhibited, he also admitted that skipper and top-scorer, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and himself committed errors and were hence dismissed.
"All of a sudden, there was so much slow turn off the wicket and [the ball] kept coming on straight. You could not predict which ball will turn and which will come on straight. It just happened all of a sudden. At that time, I made a mistake, and Shanto did too. We have discussed it. The set batters should have finished things on a wicket like this," added Mehidy.
While Mehidy ended up as the second-most economical bowler in the match across both the side, the star of the show was AM Ghazanfar, who accounted for six dismissals in total in only his sixth ODI for the Afghan Wolves.
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