Afghanistan, one could say, had no business winning the first ODI against Bangladesh in Sharjah, especially given they were 71 for 5 at one point, and then saw Bangladesh cruise to 120 for 2 in a chase of 236. However, led by the astute captaincy of Hashmatullah Shahidi, who first rescued them with 52 and then rotated his spinners smartly, Afghanistan showed their opposition how one can recover after faltering, and even register a big win of 92 runs.
When Mohammad Nabi joined Shahidi at the fall of the fifth wicket in the 20th over, they took stock of the situation before rebuilding with singles and twos, quietly blunting the Bangladesh spinners. The seven fours during their brisk partnership of 104 off 122 balls spoke volumes of not just their approach to conserve wickets, but believing in the old-fashioned route of holding back the big hits for the end. The experienced duo took Afghanistan to 175 in the 41st over, setting the base for the lower order to score 66 runs in the last ten and post a respectable total.
That was in sharp contrast to how the Bangladesh chase unfolded. They had the advantage of two 50-plus stands from the top four - captain Najmul Hossain Shanto added 53 with Soumya Sarkar and then 55 with Mehidy Hasan Miraz. When Shanto and Mehidy were milking runs in their third-wicket stand, Bangladesh looked set for a smooth chase.
But Shahidi's knowledge of the his spinners and the Sharjah conditions engineered a spectacular Bangladesh batting collapse. His rotation of the spinners kept everyone guessing. There was even a moment during the chase when one of the TV commentators questioned why offspinner AM Ghazanfar, who opened the bowling with Fazalhaq Farooqi, was being held back after his first spell of 4-1-21-1 ended in the ninth over. Shahidi, though, knew what he was doing.
His plan was to use their ace spinner Rashid Khan as his most attacking option, while bowling Nabi sparingly due to his cramps, and left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote as his defensive bowler until the 30th over. And then he would being Ghazanfar back. Shahidi wanted Rashid, Nabi and Kharote to dry up the runs to set the stage for Ghazanfar to beguile the Bangladesh middle and lower order.
While Ghazanfar was away, Shahidi made a few field changes - he kept a slip for Nabi while pushing mid-off back and jogged to short fine leg. To entice a big shot from Shanto, Nabi tossed up a slow offbreak that spun away from him. Shanto swiped at it and top-edged it towards short fine leg, where Shahidi juggled four times before completing the catch.
Five overs later, in the 31st, Shahidi brought back Ghazanfar who removed the other set batter, Mehidy, who top-edged a sweep and Azmatullah Omarzai took a superb diving catch in the deep. And Bangladesh's batting unravelled.
It was surprising to see Mushfiqur Rahim bat at No. 7 - for the first time in nine years. Perhaps he was tired after keeping wickets for 50 overs. He and Mahmudullah, the other experienced batter in the middle order, lasted all of eight balls combined. It's possible Mushfiqur came lower down because Bangladesh wanted to counter the Rashid threat with Mehidy at No. 4, as he is the only batter in ODIs who has faced at least 100 balls from Rashid without getting dismissed. On the contrary, Rashid had dismissed Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah for a combined six times in ODIs until Wednesday.
But the tactic didn't work because once Mehidy fell to Ghazanfar, Shahidi brought on Rashid from the other end and the legspinner outfoxed Mahmudullah with a googly. Mushfiqur did not even last until Rashid's next over and was stumped off a Ghazanfar carrom ball.
Ghazanfar took five wickets for just 15 runs in 15 balls in his second spell, leaving the Bangladesh batters in a quivering mess. The 18-year-old enjoyed every bit of his stunning performance, at times bringing out the Cristiano Ronaldo celebration, before doing the sajda to commemorate his five-for. Ghazanfar's joyous face was a far cry from Afghanistan's furrowed brows in the 20th over of their innings, and Bangladesh were bundled for just 143 in under 35 overs.
The two spin attacks also yielded contrasting returns. Afghanistan's four-man spin attack took a combined 9 for 93 in 24.5 overs while Bangladesh's spinners went wicketless in their 20 overs. It was Bangladesh's fast bowlers who picked up all nine wickets, but they were expensive towards the end of their spells.
Bangladesh are of course without Shakib Al Hasan who opted out of the ODI series after missing out on his farewell Test last month. Shakib's wicket-taking ability was sorely missed but Bangladesh's bowlers must be prepared for life without him. The likes of Mehidy, Rishad Hossain and Nasum Ahmed need to figure ways to be more attacking and take more wickets.
Afghanistan's familiarity of playing in Sharjah was another factor in the result, whereas Bangladesh were playing an ODI at this venue after nearly 30 years and couldn't find a way out once squeezed. When Afghanistan were in trouble twice in the game, Shahidi's doggedness bailed them out on both occasions.