Hailed as world's best leg-spinner in the shortest format, Rashid Khan once again lived up to its billing as he produced yet another brilliant performance to lead Afghanistan to a sensational win against Bangladesh in the second T20I on Tuesday. With this victory, Afghanistan took an unassailable 2-0 lead over Bangladesh in the three-match T20I series played in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
Rashid's four-wicket haul helped Afghanistan limit Bangladesh to 134 for eight before Samiullah Shenwari (49 off 40) and Mohammad Nabi (31* off 15) did a fine job in what turned out to be a comfortable chase in 18.5 overs.
The 19-year old leggie was adjudged the 'Player of the Match' for his magical spell of 4/12.
“This is what the team expects (from me),” said the star leg-spinner in the post-match presentation. “This is the plan given to me, to bowl in the middle and end overs. I was mentally ready, and wanted to bowl in the good-length areas.
Rashid took the important wickets of Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mosaddek Hossain and Soumya Sarkar to break the back of the Afghanistan batting line-up.
“It was crucial, the wickets of Shakib (Al Hasan), Tamim (Iqbal), Mosaddek (Hossain) and Soumya (Sarkar). They are key players. We know how good they are, so we wanted to keep things simple and focus on the basics," the young leggie added.
Later, Afghanistan chased down the 135-run target with ease with seven balls to spare, thanks to a decent batting effort.
"Thanks to the crowd for their support in the two games. Hope to see the same for the third game as well," Rashid signed off.
Both the sides will square off for the final time in the series on Thursday.
