Shenwari's blitz helps Afghanistan topple Bangladesh

Afghanistan's lower-order batsman, Samiullah Shenwari's, late 81-run blitz helped his side beat hosts Bangladesh by 32 runs in their Asia Cup encounter at Fatullah on Saturday.

Afghanistan got off to a shaky start, after being put into bat, and lost opener Mohammad Shahzad for just two. They were soon reduced to 40 for two as Bangladesh's attack maintained a tight leash.

The visitors were in a real spot of bother in the 27th over and struggled at 90 for five. It was then that Shenwari and Asgar Stanikzai dropped anchor.

The duo began cautiously and took eight overs to hit their first boundary. But they soon switched gears and Shenwari laid into the Bangladesh attack.

He smashed Abdur Razzaq for two boundaries in the 40th over and then hit five boundaries in the next five. Shenwari and Stanikzia scored 164 runs for the sixth wicket and helped Afghanistan post a respectable 254.

Bangladesh got off to a horrendous start with the bat and lost two wickets with just one run on the board. Though their middle order showed some signs of resilience, they kept losing wickets regularly and folded for just 222 in 47.5 overs.

"It was a team effort from the coach, manager and everyone," Shenwari said. "We wanted to bat till 50 overs and I did. 150 was the big partnership, our plan was to just stay at the wicket and when we took 107 runs from the last 10 overs, that was the main point."