Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Umarzai lead Afghanistan to series win over Bangladesh

Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a blistering century and Azmatullah Umarzai displayed all-round prowess to lead Afghanistan to a five-wicket win in the third ODI and series win over Bangladesh on Monday. Umarzai took four wickets before hitting an unbeaten 70 off 77 balls and opener Gurbaz scored 101 off 120 balls as Afghanistan chased down the target of 245 in 48.2 overs in Sharjah. Bangladesh were run out by Mohammad Mahmudullah for 98 runs on the last ball of the innings and stand-in captain Mehdi Hasan Miraz played a strong innings of 66 runs to take the score to 244-8.

The win gave Afghanistan a 2–1 series win in Sharjah. Afghanistan won the first match by 92 runs while Bangladesh won the second match by 68 runs.

This is Afghanistan's third consecutive win in the series this year, having also defeated Ireland (2-0) and South Africa (2-1) after wins over England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the World Cup in India last year.

Bangladesh pacers Mustafizur Rahman (2-50) and Nahid Rana (2-40) had bowled out Afghanistan for 84-3 before Gurbaz and Umarzai added 100 for the fourth wicket.

Gurbaz, who hit seven sixes and five fours in his eighth ODI century, fell in the 39th over when Bangladesh needed 61 runs.

Omarzai hit five sixes and three fours and added 58 runs with Mohammad Nabi (34 off 27 balls) and hit the winning six to avoid any change.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said he was proud of his team.

“As a captain, I am very happy,” Shahidi said. “We were a little worried when we lost the toss because it is difficult to bat second in Sharjah but our batsmen performed very well.”

Mirage praised Afghanistan

“I think credit goes to Afghanistan for the way they played in this series,” Miraj said. “Gurbaz and Umarzai performed very well and we could not take wickets to win the match.”

Earlier, Bangladesh, without injured captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto, were given a good start of 53 runs by Soumya Sarkar (24) and Tanjeed Hasan (19), but four wickets fell for 19 runs in 38 balls.

Mahmudullah and Miraz took over the innings with a 155-run partnership for the fifth wicket and blunted Afghanistan's spinners, who could take just two wickets between them.

Miraj became the victim of Umarzai in the 46th over but Mahmudullah continued to bat solidly until he was run out on the last ball while trying to take his second run.

Mahmudullah hit three sixes and seven fours while Miraj's 119-ball innings included four fours.

Umarzai took his career-best 4-37, improving on his 3-56 against Sri Lanka in Pallekele earlier this year.