Tanzid, Mustafizur keep Bangladesh's Asia Cup campaign alive

Bangladesh held on for a win in the first real nail-biter of Asia Cup 2025, as they pipped Afghanistan by eight runs and kept their hopes of qualification alive.

The defence was set up by the very first delivery of the chase, as Nasum Ahmed trapped Sediqullah Atal lbw. It signalled the start of a dominant bowling powerplay that would see just 27 runs scored for the loss of two wickets.

From that point on, Bangladesh's bowlers, led by their excellent spin contingent, strangled the chase through the middle overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz tried to play through the innings, but he fell straight after the drinks break. That started the downward spiral of the Afghan innings.

Nasum ended up finishing with figures of 2 for 9, while Rishad Hossain - whose only blip was dropping Ibrahim Zadran in the second over - finished with 2 for 18. Taskin Ahmed, recalled to the XI, picked up two as well, but the pick of the bunch was the evergreen Mustafizur Rahman with his 3 for 28 - including some pivotal overs at the death.

It was a team effort that ensured Bangladesh were able to defend a total that seemed perhaps around 20 runs short, after Afghanistan's excellent bowling through the middle and at the death had hauled Bangladesh in following a blistering powerplay led by Tanzid Hasan, who ended with a 31-ball 52.

It was an innings that secured Tanzid the player-of-the-match award, and one that in hindsight, likely proved the difference between the two sides on a surface that was not the easiest to bat on.

Tanzid's display of unadulterated intent at the top of the order set Bangladesh up for a total much more than they eventually got, but it showed the importance of utilising the fielding restrictions.

It was an innings with its fair share of fortune - a thick edge sailing between keeper and first slip when he was on 2 the glaring example - but he rode that luck and found a string of boundaries to give their innings momentum. Of his first 12 deliveries, six went to the boundary.

The powerplay brought 59 runs, nearly 40% of Bangladesh's final total before Afghanistan clawed things back with the ball. Bangladesh dominated the powerplay once more in the chase, this time through Nasum Ahmed, who bowled three overs for seven runs and picked up two wickets in those pivotal first six overs.

Batting only ended up getting harder in the next phase as Bangladesh tightened the screw and kept pushing the required rate ever higher.

The spinners from both sides proved impossible to get away - in fact the only spinner that struggled was AM Ghazanfar, who was brought inside the powerplay and was targeted expertly by Tanzid.

Prior to Nasum and Rishad throttling the chase, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad had done the same to Bangladesh's innings after their Tanzid-propelled start.

The pair gave away just 49 runs across their eight overs while sharing four wickets between them. They proved pivotal in the middle-overs period that saw four wickets fall for 65 runs.

In fact, Afghanistan's bowlers bettered their Bangladeshi counterparts both through the middle and at the death, with the difference being made up crucially in the powerplays.

Even accounting for the excellence of Bangladesh's bowling, 53 needed off the final five overs with five wickets in hand was not strictly an impossible ask. And with Azmatullah Omarzai going strong, Afghanistan would not have given up hope in the slightest.

The Bangladesh seamers, however, ensured they kept their nerve at the death, and stuck diligently to their plans. Taskin, who ended with figures of 2 for 34, accounted for the key wicket of Omarzai, while Mustafizur got rid of Rashid, who had struck a pair of no-look boundaries to keep Afghanistan in the hunt.

Rashid ended up admitting after the game that the final three-over requirement of 31 was not beyond the realms of modern T20 batting, and that credit must go to Taskin and Mustafizur for holding their nerve in a must-win scenario.