AFG vs BAN

That's all we have for you from the second of three ODIs between these two sides. Bangladesh have fought back admirably, setting up a decider at this very venue on Monday. Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our coverage of that game, and in the meantime, keep an eye on our page for a whole lot more! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Bidipto Datta. Good night!

Najmul Hossain Shanto, Bangladesh captain, has been adjudged Player Of The Match for his 76 off 119 deliveries! Here's what he has to say: Feeling better, but I have to wait till the next match to find out (the severity of the injury). I am not happy, probably I need to bat bit longer, the wicket is quite difficult to bat against spin, but I was happy with my start. The way Miraz and Nasum bowled, credit goes to them, and also the way we started with the new ball. Taskin took Gurbaz, he's an important batter. The bowling group did a great job, the fielders showed a lot of energy today, happy with them. Rather than my batting, how they (Jaker Ali and Nasum Ahmed) finished, we got the momentum from that. That's what I want from Jaker and the lower middle-order. Happy with the way they batted, hope they continue to bat like this.

Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan captain): It was a tough pitch to bat on, yes, but they scored 40 runs in the last five overs. So that was a big game-changer! We didn't bowl well in the first 10 overs also. In the batting, we lost some back-to-back wickets. We needed some partnerships in between too. We will sit and talk about it to improve. 

9:35 P.M. Local Time, 11:05 P.M. IST - Match summary:

Bangladesh win by 68 runs

Najmul Hossain Shanto 76 (119) | Nasum Ahmed 3/28 (8.3)
Rahmat Shah 52 (76) | Nangeyalia Kharote 3/28 (8)

Afghanistan began on a cautious note as Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed kept things tight with the ball. The former was tidier with his line and length - Shoriful got the new ball to move a long way off the air, beating the bat of Sediqullah Atal on numerous occasions. Taskin was a touch off with his line to start with, but came back really well in his second over. He hit the deck hard, got Gurbaz to flash at a wide one and had him caught at slip.

Rahmat Shah joined Atal at the crease, and the duo proceeded to get in on a rebuild. They played and missed on several occasions in the powerplay, looked ugly at times against Taskin and Shoriful, but crucially for Afghanistan, they saw off the opening spells from the two of them. Atal began growing in confidence - he found the boundary every now and then, and Afghanistan were in a good position going into the first drinks break.

Atal departed shortly after drinks, sweeping Nasum towards Miraz at square leg, and was held brilliantly by the man who had to stand in as captain for a large part of the second innings owing to an injury to Najmul Hossain Shanto while making a diving stop. Hashmatullah Shahidi came in and picked up the role of second fiddle as Rahmat continued with the rebuild.

Rahmat went on to complete a half-century of his own, and Afghanistan were on top going into the second half of the chase. Hashmatullah Shahidi's wicket off the last ball of the 29th opened a can of worms for the hosts - Azmatullah Omarzai departed two balls later, and the alarm bells sure went off for Afghanistan when the well-set Rahmat Shah found himself in a foot-race with Gulbadin Naib for the crease at the keeper's end and was run out.

Mohammad Nabi joined Naib at the crease, and with the required rate well over a run-a-ball, Afghanistan needed them to stitch a partnership and score quickly. Naib was the more aggressive of the two - for a fleeting moment, he seemed determined in winning the game for Afghanistan. That was until he slapped one off Shoriful into the palms of Towhid Hridoy at cover, and Bangladesh found themselves right on top once Nasum Ahmed went past Nabi's defense with a straighter one in the 38th over.

Rashid tried to put up a belated fight, striking a few meaty blows. But the pressure of dot deliveries proved to be too much for him - he lacked support from the tail, and succumbed to a slower ball from Mustafizur. Nasum Ahmed mopped things up, and Bangladesh take the series into the third game. Presentations to come in a bit...

43.3 Nasum Ahmed to Allah Ghazanfar, KNOCKED HIM OVER! BANGLADESH TAKE THE SERIES TO A DECIDER! Full and slow around off-and-middle. Ghazanfar makes room and swings himself off his feet. But in doing so, all he manages is to play it back on to his stumps!

Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar b Nasum Ahmed 1 (11b, 0x4, 0x6)

43.1 Nasum Ahmed to Allah Ghazanfar, round the wicket, full and flat on leg-stump. Ghazanfar tried to sweep it away but missed it. But the impact was already on leg, meaning it would go down leg. 

Ghazanfar seemed to be all at sea against Mustafizur as the left-armer kept angling the ball away from him. The pressure of dot deliveries got to Rashid Khan - he was far, far too early into a slow cutter from Mustafizur, and picked Mahmudullah out at long off. That might well be the game for the hosts!

42.6 Mustafizur Rahman to Rashid Khan, RASHID HOLES OUT! Good length slower ball outside off-stump. Rashid steps out and tries to smack it over the fielder at long-off. But he does not get hold of it and the ball falls safely into the hands of Mahmudullah on the full!

Rashid Khan c Mahmudullah Riyad b Mustafizur Rahman 14 (16b, 2x4, 0x6)

42.5 Mustafizur Rahman to Allah Ghazanfar, round the wicket, back of a length around off-stump. Punched away on the up to deep cover for a single. 

42.4 Mustafizur Rahman to Allah Ghazanfar, OH! Full and slanting across off-stump. Ghazanfar tries to push it away to mid-off off the front foot and gets beaten on the outside edge. 

42.3 Mustafizur Rahman to Allah Ghazanfar, cutter going across the right-hander off the good length. A swing and a miss from the crease with the horizontal bat. No run. 

42.2 Mustafizur Rahman to Rashid Khan, back of a length outside off-stump. Punched away off the back foot down to the left of backward point in the deep for a single. 

42.2 Mustafizur Rahman to Rashid Khan, full, WIDE and slow outside off-stump. Rashid tried to carve it away over cover but could not quite reach it in the end.