Bangladesh could not succeed. The series win remained elusive, and history could not be made in Sharjah. Once again, Bangladesh faced the embarrassment of a series defeat against Afghanistan. With Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s century and a responsible innings from Azmatullah Omarzai, the opportunity slipped away.
On Monday (November 11), Bangladesh and Afghanistan faced off in the series-deciding third ODI in Sharjah. With each team having won one match, this game turned into an unofficial final, where Afghanistan had the last laugh with a 5-wicket victory.
Bangladesh batted first after winning the toss and posted 244 runs for 8 wickets. Mahmudullah scored 98 runs off 98 balls. Despite a strong contest, Afghanistan reached the target with 5 wickets in hand in 48.2 overs.
On Monday, Bangladesh made two changes to their lineup. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto was ruled out due to injury, and Zakir Hasan replaced him in the team. Taskin Ahmed was rested, and debutant Nahid Rana was included.
In the absence of the regular captain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz led the team. Winning the toss for the first time as captain, Miraz gave Bangladesh a slight advantage, as teams batting first had won the previous two matches.
Bangladesh had a solid start. Despite some lucky breaks, the two openers settled in. Tanzid Hasan and Soumya Sarkar were scoring at a steady pace, adding 49 runs in 8 overs.
Then trouble struck. In the 8.3rd over, Omarzai bowled Soumya for 24 runs off 23 balls, breaking the 53-run partnership. In the next over, without adding any runs to the scoreboard, Tanzid fell for 19 runs off 29 balls.
Zakir Hasan, returning to the ODI team after almost a year, and acting captain Miraz tried to steady the innings but Zakir (4) was run out in an unfortunate manner.
After losing 3 wickets for just 5 runs, Miraz and Towhid Hridoy tried to rebuild. However, Hridoy failed to make an impact, scoring only 7 runs off 14 balls before being deceived by Rashid Khan. This series is one Hridoy would likely want to forget, scoring only 29 runs across three matches.
At 72 runs for 4 in 14.4 overs, dark clouds loomed over Bangladesh’s innings. However, Miraz and Mahmudullah took control and put together a 145-run partnership for the fifth wicket in 188 balls.
While Miraz batted cautiously, Mahmudullah played in his usual style and reached his half-century in 63 balls. Miraz, in his 100th ODI match, also reached his fourth half-century but took 106 balls to do so.
This partnership was broken in the 46th over when Miraz, after scoring 57 runs off 119 balls, was caught off Omarzai. Zakir Ali (1) and Nasum Ahmed (5) could not contribute significantly, but Mahmudullah pushed the score forward. He was close to a century but could not bridge the 4-run gap in the final 3 balls.
Omarzai claimed 4 wickets for 37 runs.
Chasing, Afghanistan lost their first wicket at 41 runs in 7.4 overs, with debutant Nahid Rana dismissing Sadiqullah Atal (14) with a delivery that broke the stumps at a sharp pace.
The second wicket fell in the 14th over when Mustafizur Rahman took a return catch to send back Rahmat Shah for 8 runs off 22 balls. The third wicket came at 20.1 overs when Mustafiz dismissed Hashmatullah Shahidi (6).
After losing 3 wickets for 84 runs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Azmatullah Omarzai rescued the innings. They built a 100-run partnership, which ended when Gurbaz was dismissed by Miraz after scoring a century.
Gurbaz’s career-eighth ODI century included 5 fours and 7 sixes, ending at 101 runs off 120 balls. After losing the fourth wicket at 184 runs, Afghanistan quickly lost Gulbadin Naib (4), also taken by Nahid.
Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi ensured the victory with an unbeaten partnership of 58 runs off 48 balls. Omarzai remained not out at 70 off 77 balls, and Nabi at 34 off 27 balls. Nahid and Mustafizur both took 2 wickets each for Bangladesh.
