Strong celebrations in Afghanistan’s locker room followed their victory over Bangladesh and advancement to the semifinals of the Asia Cup

After Najibullah Zadran struck the winning six against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup 2022, the entire Afghanistan locker room exploded in joy. The match was won by Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by an impressive 7 wickets to ensure their spot in the Super 4 round of the Asia Cup 2022. Najibullah Zadran was the star of the show. Afghanistan’s chances of reaching their aim of 128 runs were looking bleak when Najibullah appeared at the crease and teamed up with Ibrahim Zadran. At the time, Afghanistan’s score stood at 62 runs for three wickets.

What followed was an unbroken 69-run partnership between the two, which helped Afghanistan win the game very easily. This partnership was achieved off of only 33 balls. While Najibullah scored an impressive 43 runs without being out off of just 17 balls, Ibrahim scored 42 runs without being defeated off of 41 balls.

Najibullah’s innings comprised one four and six sixes, including a booming six that won the match for him. As soon as Najibullah hit the runs that would ultimately win the game for Afghanistan, the whole Afghanistan dressing room exploded in joy. The game looked like it was going to come down to the wire halfway through the second innings, but Afghanistan was able to secure a commanding victory thanks to Najibullah’s blistering knock and Ibrahim’s innings.

Earlier, Afghanistan was successful in limiting Bangladesh’s score to 127 for 7, thanks to the efforts of Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan, who each took three wickets. By scoring three times, Mujeeb Ur Rahman established the tone for Afghanistan, and Rashid Khan seized on it to put Bangladesh in an even more precarious position.

Without Mosaddek Hossain’s unbeaten 48 runs off 31 balls, Bangladesh would not have been been able to reach a score that could be considered a fighting total.

In their reply, Afghanistan did not get off to a strong start, as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals all the way up until the 13th over. After then, Najibullah and Ibrahim steered the ship in the right direction for Afghanistan until the former went completely insane towards the end of the game and tore apart Bangladesh’s bowling attack.

Afghanistan is the first team to win a spot in the Super 4 stage of the competition after claiming victory in both of their matches during the group stage.