Bangladesh suffered an embarrassing 63-run defeat against Afghanistan in their first official warm-up game ahead of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2022 after another shocking performance from the batters.
The Tigers could only muster 98-9 in their 20 overs, chasing 161 at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, Australia on Monday.
Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi tormented the Bangladesh top-order, claiming three wickets in the powerplay which didn’t allow the Tigers infuse any sort of momentum in their chase.
Earlier, Ibrahim Zadran top-scored for Afghanistan with 46 off 39 balls while Mohammad Nabi hit a whirlwind 41 not out off 17 balls to take their score over 160.
Hasan Mahmud was the pique of the Bangladesh bowlers, finishing with 2-24 in his four overs.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan also claimed two wickets but also conceded 41 runs in his quota of four overs.
Chasing a gettable total, Bangladesh’s hopes of winning were more or less over after the powerplay, as they managed to score only 24 runs in the first six overs while losing four big wickets.
Farooqi, a familiar foe for the Tigers, dismissed Najmul Hossain Shanto (12 off nine balls), Shakib (one off four balls) and Afif Hossain (0) while Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed Soumya Sarkar for one.
The situation worsened when Yasir Ali departed without troubling the scorers in the first ball of the seventh over.
Bangladesh lost Nurul Hasan, who hit one four and one six in his 13-run innings, in the ninth over and reached 47-6 after 10 overs.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who opened the innings, also departed after a dogged 16 off 31 balls.
Mosaddek Hossain showed some resistance with 29 off 32 balls, but even that wasn’t enough to push Bangladesh’s score beyond 100.
Earlier, opting to bat first, Afghanistan only reached 67-2 at the halfway point of the innings.
But in the last four overs, Afghanistan scored 48 runs, thanks to one four and five sixes from Nabi, and finished on a decent total.
Bangladesh will play another warm-up game on 19 October against South Africa.
Shakib Al Hasan’s men will officially start their campaign on 24 October against the runners-up of Group A.