TIGERS won their first One-Day International against the newbie Afghanistan but not before fighting tooth and nail. Afghans lost because of their inexperience at the crunch moments. Bangladeshi players and supporters alike were on their feet during the slog overs and heaved a sigh of relief when Bangladesh snatched a well-deserved victory. It would have been very embarrassing if they had lost. It is true that the Tigers were out of international cricket for last six months which made them a little rusty. Full credit goes to the visiting team, as they put up a valiant show at the Mirpur Cricket stadium. At one stage it looked that the Afghans would take away the match easily, but the Tigers held their nerves in the death over and got back into the match marvellously. Taskin bowled a fantastic end spell and squeezed life out of the Afghan batting line-up by taking four wickets. Shakib Al-Hasan was declared man of the match as he scored a quick-fire 48 and took two valuable wickets. Tamim also played a vital role by scoring a magnificent 80. Congratulations to the Tigers for their hard earned win and hope they will plat more dominating cricket in the coming days.
Imran Aziz
Niketon, Dhaka
