Bangladesh ‘A’ continued their commanding form in the Asia Cup Rising Stars T20 tournament, previously known as the Emerging Asia Cup, by securing a dominant victory over Afghanistan ‘A’ in their second group match. With this win, Bangladesh have all but booked their place in the semifinals.
The match, played in Doha, saw Afghanistan bowled out for a mere 78 runs in 18.4 overs. Despite losing the toss and being put into bat, the Afghan batsmen struggled against the incisive bowling of Ripon Mondal and Rakibul Hasan. Mondal finished with 3 wickets for just 10 runs in 4 overs, while Rakibul matched his feat with figures of 3 for 7 in 4 overs. SM Meherab chipped in with 2 wickets for 14 runs, ensuring a comprehensive collapse.
Chasing a modest target, Bangladesh reached 79 for 2 in just 13.3 overs, comfortably sealing an eight-wicket victory with 39 balls to spare. The win follows an equally dominant performance against Hong Kong in their opening match, where Bangladesh chased down 168 runs with ease, powered by opener Habibur Rahman’s record-breaking 35-ball century and captain Akbar Ali’s unbeaten 41 off 13 balls.
With two wins from two matches, Bangladesh top Group ‘A’ with four points. Sri Lanka and Afghanistan sit second and third with two points each, respectively. While the points could theoretically be levelled after the final round of group matches, Bangladesh’s superior net run rate of +4.079 compared to Sri Lanka’s +1.341 and Afghanistan’s +0.122 makes them strong favourites to progress to the semifinals.
Bangladesh now look to maintain their momentum in the upcoming group matches, with consistency in both batting and bowling likely to be key to their continued success in the tournament.