Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan has surpassed India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar to become the highest wicket-taker in T20I Asia Cup history. This milestone came during Afghanistan’s Group B match against Bangladesh at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.Rashid demonstrated his bowling acumen by taking 2 wickets for 26 runs in his four-over spell. He now leads the tournament’s wicket-taking chart with 14 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 18.00, with his best performance being 3/22.Bhuvneshwar Kumar now stands second with 13 wickets in six matches, maintaining an average of 9.46 and best figures of 5/4.
Rashid’s record against Bangladesh has been particularly impressive, with 24 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 10.75 and an economy rate of 5.60.In the match against Bangladesh, Afghanistan’s bowling unit, featuring Rashid, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi, and Allah Ghazanfar, faced a challenging batting display from their opponents.Bangladesh’s innings started strongly with openers Saif Hassan scoring 30 and Tanzid Hasan making 52, putting together a 63-run partnership. The momentum shifted after Saif’s dismissal, with captain Litton Das struggling to maintain the scoring rate.Despite a promising position of 87/1 at the halfway mark, Bangladesh’s batting performance declined in the latter half of their innings.The final phase saw Towhid Hridoy contributing 26 runs from 20 balls, while Nurul Hasan added a quick 12 runs from 6 deliveries. These efforts helped Bangladesh reach a total of 154/5.Bangladesh’s innings showed two distinct phases – a strong start followed by a slower middle and end period, where they struggled to accelerate against Afghanistan’s bowling attack.
