SHARJAH: Teenage spinner Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar took a career-best six-wicket haul to dismantle Bangladesh in the first ODI as Afghanistan claimed a convincing 92-run victory on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old grabbed 6-26 in 6.3 overs as Bangladesh crumbled from 132-3 to 143 all out after being set a modest 236-run target.
Mohammad Nabi hit 84 off 79 balls after captain Hashmatullah Shahidi made a sedate 52 for Afghanistan, who were dismissed for 235 in 49.4 overs having won the toss and batted first.
Ghazanfar, playing in his sixth ODI, triggered a Bangladesh collapse after skipper Najmul Hossain (47) and Mehidy Hasan (28) had put Bangladesh on track for a successful chase.
Opener Soumya Sarkar also made 33 before the wheels came off for Bangladesh.
Once Nabi dismissed Najmul, Ghazanfar came into his own in his fifth over by removing Mehidy and then claimed three more wickets in his next over.
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He had Mushfiqur Rahim stumped and trapped Rishad Hossain lbw, both for one, before bowling Taskin Ahmed for a first-ball duck.
Allah Ghazanfar wrapped up the match with the wicket of Shoriful Islam, registering the best figures in all Bangladesh-Afghanistan ODIs, bettering Shakib Al Hasan’s 5-29 at Southampton in 2019.
“He is a passionate youngster who always wants to do well,” said Shahidi. “When I was batting with Nabi we thought a 230-plus total would be enough with our bowling.”
Najmul rued Bangladesh’s batting slump and placed part of the blame on himself.
“I think my wicket turned the match,” said Najmul. “I was the set batsman so when I got out we needed to bat longer but credit to Afghanistan spinners for the way they bowled.”
Afghanistan were themselves in trouble at 35-4 before Nabi and Shahidi put on an innings-repairing 104 runs for the sixth wicket to lift the team to a fighting total.
Bangladesh’s pace duo of Taskin and Mustafizur Rahman both took four wickets each.
The subsequent matches between Afghanistan and Bangladesh will be played on November 9 and 11 at the same venue.
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