Bangladesh defeat Afghanistan by 2 wickets in 2nd T20I:Nasum Ahmed, Rishad Hossain shine for Bangla Tigers, Shoriful Islam awarded POTM; BAN clinch series T20I 2-0

Bangladesh secured a memorable 2-0 series victory against Afghanistan after pulling off a nail-biting two-wicket win in the second T20 on Saturday. The match at Dhaka kept fans on the edge of their seats as Bangladesh chased down a modest target of 148 with five balls to spare. The star of the night was left-arm fast bowler Shoriful Islam, who shone with both ball and bat. He bowled brilliantly, conceding just 13 runs in his four overs and claiming a crucial wicket. Later, when the team was in deep trouble, he held his nerve to finish unbeaten with 11 runs and struck the winning boundary. Afghanistan had earlier put up a fighting total of 147/5, but Bangladesh’s resilience and late heroics from Shoriful and Nurul Hasan sealed the victory and the series. Shoriful-Nurul led Bangladesh to victory Chasing 148, Bangladesh’s innings got off to a shaky start with both openers dismissed in the very first over. Saif Hasan tried to counterattack with a couple of sixes, but Mujeeb Ur Rahman removed him to leave Bangladesh struggling at 24/3. Also read: Australia-A thrash India-A by 9 wickets in 2nd unofficial ODI: Mackenzie Harvey scores unbeaten 70 off 49; Tilak Varma’s 94 in vain The innings was steadied by Shamim Hasan (33) and Zakir Ali, who added 56 runs for the fourth wicket. However, a sudden collapse saw Bangladesh slip from 102/4 to 129/8, putting Afghanistan in control. Just when it seemed the game was slipping away, Nurul Hasan (31* off 21) and Shoriful Islam (11* off 6) kept calm under pressure. In the penultimate over, Nurul smashed a six off Noor Ahmad, while Shoriful added valuable runs with a four and wides. Needing only two runs in the final over, Shoriful ended the match in style with a straight boundary off Azmatullah Omarzai’s first ball. Also read: ‘Would like to dedicate my century to the army’: Dhruv Jurel dedicates his maiden Test hundred to Indian Armed Forces; celebrates with rifle gesture Afghanistan’s Steady Start, Shoriful shines for Bangla Tigers Earlier, Afghanistan, after being put into bat, began cautiously with openers Sediqullah Atal (23) and Ibrahim Zadran (38) building a 55-run stand. Rahmanullah Gurbaz added a quick 30, while Mohammad Nabi (20*) and Omarzai (17*) pushed the score to 147 in 20 overs. For Bangladesh, Shoriful Islam was the most economical bowler, while Rishad Hossain chipped in with two wickets to keep Afghanistan in check.