Bangladesh won a thriller against Afghanistan by 2 wickets on Friday (14th July) at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, Sylhet. Shamim Hossain and Towhid Hridoy's fantastic partnership helped Bangladesh chase Afghanistan's given total and go 1-0 ahead in the T20I series.

Opting to bowl first in the T20I series opener, Bangladesh did make a good start as they got dangerous Hazratullah Zazai in the second over of the match. Zazai tried to slam Nasum Ahmed's tossed up delivery but found fielder at the square leg and he had to go after scoring 8 off 10 deliveries. In the very next over, Rahmanullah Gurbaz tried to swing hard but failed to pierce the gap as Taskin Ahmed's slower delivery worked out for Bangladesh. Ibrahim Zadran smoked a massive six off Shoriful Islam but in the next over he failed to take the ball to the boundary as Litton Das took a good catch.

Afghanistan finished their powerplay with a scoreline of 40-3. Then skipper Shakib lured Karim Janat and he found the hands of Shanto after a top edge and Afghanistan lost their fourth. And then experienced campaigner Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran had a brilliant time together as the duo added 35 runs to Afghanistan's tally before Najibullah fell to Mehedi Hasan Miraz for 23 off 23. And then Afghanistan depicted a great comeback as Nabi and Azmatullah took on Shakib, Fizz and Taskin. Azmatullah played a quick-fire cameo of 33 off only 18 deliveries, in his short stay he smoked 4 massive bonkers. Mohammad Nabi on the other hand nothced up his 5th T20I fify and anchored the innings very nicely to post a very competitive total of 154-7 after being reduced to 52-4.

Shakib Al Hasan led Bangladesh's bowling lineup as he picked up 2 wickets conceding only 27 of his 4 over quota. While his partners Nasum, Taskin, Shoriful, Fizz and Mehedi Miraz all gave hands with their solitary one wicket.
In reply of 155, Bangladesh lost their opener Rony Talukder earlier the innings as a peach from Fazalhaq Farooqi knocked over Rony's defence. Nazmul Shanto and Litton Das had a brief stay as the duo added 25 on the tally before Mujeeb Ur Rahman bamboozled Shanto as he tried to sweep and backed away outside leg stump but missed it and ball got his stumps and Bangladesh lost their second. Litton tried to pull of Azmatullah Omarzai but managed to reach only in the hands of Rashid Khan and Litton Das went back to the pavilion scoring only 18 off 19 deliveries. Bangladesh were stuttering for 41-3 after 7.2 overs and then drizzles came, the match stopped.

After the short shower, skipper Shakib Al Hasan departed to Fareed Ahmed for 19 off 17 balls and Bangladesh fell into a deep deep trouble. But the youngsters : Shamim and Towhid Hridoy had a brilliant partnership. And they kept Bangladesh on the track with their calculative batting. Azmatullah Omarzai conceded 21 runs off 13th over to Shamim and Towhid and the momentum was shifted towards Bangladesh. Again Afghanistan's gun pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi gave 16 runs in the 17th over as Shamim smoked a massive six in that over which helped reducing the deficit to 19 off last 3 overs. Afghan skipper Rashid Khan brought himself in and gave a vital breakthrough by picking the important wicket of Shamim Hossain for a fluent 33 off 25 deliveries. Rashid conceded only 5 in that over and left 14 for his fellow bowlers to defend in 2 overs.

Towhid Hridoy smacked a fine boundary off Fazalhaq Farooqi's over and reduced the deficit to 6 off last 6 deliveries. Mehedi Miraz smashed a four off the first ball of last over and left Bangladesh needing of only 2 from last 5 balls. But in the next ball he departed. The drama wasn’t over yet as the next batter Taskin Ahmed got a golden duck and Bangladesh still needed 2 off last 3 balls to win. Karim Janat got Nasum and got hattrick as well and Bangladesh left stuttering off last 2 runs. But the crisis man Shoriful Islam smoked a boundary and won the match by 2 wickets after the drama. Towhid Hridoy was unbeaten on 47* off only 32 deliveries with a jaw dropping strike rate of 146.88.