No answers to Rashid magic

The difference between the two sides playing the second T20I in Dehradun yesterday was evident in the way Bangladesh played their last six overs and the way Afghanistan managed the same passage in the first T20I on Sunday. Afghanistan had plundered 76 runs after being reduced to 91 for four at the end of the 14th over but yesterday, Bangladesh could score just 35 runs for the loss of four wickets from a score of 99 for four after 14. Given their bowling woes in the first match, it is doubtful whether a score of 134 for eight can keep Bangladesh alive in the three-match series.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan and a settled Tamim Iqbal were at the crease, but it was once again the leg spin of Rashid Khan that broke the Tigers' back. Unlike Bangladesh in the first match, Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai had the wisdom of bowling his spinners even when the slog was on and Rashid repaid that faith in the 16th over when he took three wickets. Shakib was caught at long on for three, Tamim swept all around a googly to be bowled for a 48-ball 43 and Mosaddek Hossain fell to a first-ball duck when an apparently undetectable googly had him plumb in front.

Earlier, Tamim did his best to play the role of an anchor while wickets kept tumbling around him. Off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman kept things tight in the first over, and that paid dividends immediately when Liton Das -- Bangladesh's top-scorer in the first match -- holed out to deep midwicket off the first ball of the second over from Shapoor Zadran.

Sabbir Rahman was promoted up the order to number three and he briefly showed his fine hand-eye coordination, but that lasted just nine balls and yielded three boundaries off Zadran in the fourth over before he was caught off Mohammad Nabi in the fifth over for 13. Mushfiqur Rahim put on 45 runs with Tamim for the third wicket in 5.2 overs, but just when it seemed that Bangladesh were building some momentum towards a sizeable total, Nabi had him stumped for an 18-ball 22 to cut the tourists down to 75 for three in the 10th over.

Mahmudullah Riyadannounced his intentions with a first-ball six over cow corner off Nabi, and seemed intent on playing a positive innings but like Sabbir, it was not meant to last as he was bowled by rookie pacer Karim Janat off the last ball of the 12th over. His down-the-wicket heave may have been a panicked response to the dangerous Rashid being introduced into the attack in the previous over, and it seemed a justified response given what followed.