Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad help Afghanistan keep Bangladesh to 154/5 in Asia Cup

Abu Dhabi, Sep 16 (PTI) Skipper Rashid Khan (2/26) and his spin colleague Noor Ahmad (2/23) produced measly spells to restrict Bangladesh to 154/5 in their Group B clash of the Asia Cup here on Tuesday.

Bangladesh were bolstered by a 31-ball 52 from opener Tanzid Hasan and his 63-run opening stand with Saif Hassan (30), powering the Tigers to 87 for one at the halfway mark.

But the two Afghan spinners, well backed by Azmatullah Omarzai (3-0-19-1), pulled things back with their accuracy and variations and put pressure back on Bangladesh.

Bangladesh had earlier picked up the scoring rate after a sedate start when Tanzid got four boundaries off Fazalhaq Farooqi in the third over in between surviving a leg-before appeal courtesy umpire's call.

Two of those fours came off edges that flew through and two were smacked down the ground past mid-on.

In the next over from AM Ghazanfar, Hassan showed intent smashing a huge six down the ground but it was Tanzid who hit more spectacular sixes off the Afghan spinner in the sixth over, one that sailed over long on and other that was picked up from his pads over deep square leg.

The partnership was broken by Afghanistan captain Rashid, whose delivery kept a little low and beat Saif's sweep to crash into the off-stump.

Bangladesh were still in cruise mode after 10 overs but they could not do much in the face of acute pressure from the Afghanistan spinners who kept tight lines and denied any room for the batters to free up their arms.

Tanzid, whose fifty included some attractive strokes, fell soon after Litton Das with Noor accounting for both of them. While Tanzid was caught by Ibrahim Zadran at long-off after a mishit, Bangladesh captain Das missed a paddle sweep to be adjudged leg-before.

Rashid then applied additional pressure when he pinned Shamim Hossain in front of the stumps for 11, with Bangladesh slumping to 121 for four in the 16th over.

In a crucial clash which could determine their progress into the Super Four, Bangladesh failed to find any late flourish but did manage to cross the 150-mark in the final over. PTI DDV AH AH