Asia Cup 2022 Championship: Najibullah Zadran's sixes in death overs took Afghanistan to 7 wickets victory

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first, but they couldn't stop Afghanistan bowlers from destroying their batting line-up. Bangladesh had a horrible power play, down to 28/4 in 6.2 overs.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan broke the whole batting line-up returning with three wickets each. But with the help of Mosaddek Hossain's unbeaten 48 runs in 31 balls, Bangladesh posted a low total of 127/7 by the end of their innings.

Afghanistan batter took a slow approach. Bangladesh Captain Shakib Al Hasan opened the bowling and stayed highly economical in his spell of 4 overs, giving runs at an economy of 3.20 dismissing Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

Ibrahim Zadran stood firm, anchoring the inning slowly, but when Najibullah Zadran came to bat, Afghanistan required 66 runs in 42 balls. Najibullah took a few deliveries to settle in, and then he started launching huge sixes and completely threw Bangladesh out of the game.

Playing with a strike rate of 252.94, Najibullah Zadran hammered six sixes in total to score 43 runs in just 17 balls and chase down the target with nine balls to spare.

"The wicket was coming a bit low. I looked to hit it straight and play my natural game." Not a man of many words, but who needs them when you can hit like that?" said Najibullah Zadran.

Bangladesh Captain Shakib Al Hasan said, "Credit to Afghanistan though they played really well. We know that Najibullah is a dangerous player. On a wicket like this we thought we had the game, but credit to how they batted."

Afghanistan now has won both of their group matches and become the first team to qualify for super-4. The second team to qualify from Group B will be decided from the clash between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on 1st September 2022.