Sharjah

Afghanistan became the first team to qualify for the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup 2022 with a convincing seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in a Group B match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, on Tuesday.

The victory for Afghanistan was set up by spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan, while Najibullah Zadran's six-hitting spree and his unbroken partnership of 69 off 5.3 overs with Ibrahim Zadran took Afghanistan home with nine balls to spare.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Bangladesh batters could not get going for most part of the innings on a dusty pitch, which had a fair amount of grip and turn.

The Afghan spin twins Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/16) and Rashid Khan (3/22) bowled tight length and lines and spun their webs in the powerplay and in the middle-overs respectively.

When Mahmudullah (25 off 27) got out in the 15.4 overs, Bangladesh were 89-6 and it looked like they'd even fold for under 100.

However, Mosaddek Hossain's 31-ball 48, and Mehidy Hasan's 12-ball 14 helped Bangladesh in some form of recovery and led them to a respectable total of 127/7 in 20 overs.

Chasing a respectable target, Afghanistan got off to a poor start as Shakib Al Hasan, playing his 100th T20I, got rid of opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz to give Bangladesh some hope. Bangladesh capitalised on the wicket as the runs were stifled.

For the first 35 overs of the contest, only one six was hit. But Najibullah added six more hits over the fence in the next four overs with his clean hitting.

Mustafizur was hit for a couple of sixes and Saifuddin suffered the same fate in the following over as the pacers undid the spinners' good work.

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The 22-run 18th over very much ended the contest as Afghanistan needed only 4 more from the final two overs with Najibullah clearing the ropes one more time to lead Afghanistan to a convincing win in 18.3 overs, with seven wickets in hand.