Tanzid, Mustafizur keep Bangladesh's Asia Cup campaign alive

Bangladesh held on for a win in the first real nail-biter of Asia Cup 2025, as they pipped Afghanistan by eight runs and kept their hopes of qualification alive.

- 

The defence was set up by the very first delivery of the chase, as Nasum Ahmed trapped Sediqullah Atal lbw. It signalled the start of a dominant bowling powerplay that would see just 27 runs scored for the loss of two wickets.

From that point on, Bangladesh's bowlers, led by their excellent spin contingent, strangled the chase through the middle overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz tried to play through the innings, but he fell straight after the drinks break. That started the downward spiral of the Afghan innings.

Nasum ended up finishing with figures of 2 for 9, while Rishad Hossain whose only blip was dropping Ibrahim Zadran in the second over - finished with 2 for 18. Taskin Ahmed, recalled to the XI, picked up two as well, but the pick of the bunch was the evergreen Mustafizur Rahman with his 3 for 28 including some pivotal overs at the death.