'We failed in all aspects'
Samiullah Shenwari, who took an incredible catch to dismiss Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan after playing a 28-ball 33 to contribute to a whitewash-sealing one-run win for Afghanistan, asked Shakib for his jersey after the game and entered the press conference at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun with the souvenir in his hand yesterday.
Shakib, despite becoming only the third cricketer to complete the double of 500 wickets and 10,000 runs in international cricket after picking up the wicket of Najibullah Zadran, was standing despondently near the door, listening to Samiullah jubilantly answering questions.
"This wins means a lot to Afghanistan cricket and the people back home as this was the second time, after Zimbabwe, that we have managed to whitewash a Test playing nation," said Samiullah with evident pride.
The Afghan cricketer once again shook hands with Shakib as the Tigers' T20I captain walked towards the microphones. The first question, predictably, was what went wrong in the series. "Throughout the series, we failed in the three departments, which is the reason for this result."
About yesterday's game, Shakib said that the run-outs of Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das in the sixth over of the chase made the difference.
"In a game, even one run-out has a huge impact and we had two run-outs in three deliveries which was a huge setback. But I have to give credit to the way Mushfiqur [Rahim] bhai and [Mahmudullah] Riyad bhai batted. It would have felt better to win as losing the game after getting that close feels bad. As I said overall we were unable to play as a team throughout the series which naturally reflected on our results," said a dejected Shakib.
When asked whether it was the leg-spin of Rashid Khan that changed the scenario despite the comeback from Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah, the left-hander said that it was expected for the two set batsman to take the side towards the winning line. But he added that there were a few other aspects that cost them the game, rather than only blaming the last over, which ended with Shafiqullah Shafiq brilliantly stopping a six off Ariful Haque's bat when Bangladesh needed four off the last ball.
SCORES IN BRIEF
AFGHANISTAN: 145 for 6 (Shenwari 33 not out, Stanikzai 27, Shahzad 26; Nazmul 2-18, Jayed 2-27, Shakib 1-16)
BANGLADESH: 144 for 6 (Mahmudullah 45, Mushfiqur 46, Soumya 15, Liton 12; Rashid 1-24, Mujeeb 1-25)
Result: Afghanistan won by one run and clinched the series 3-0.
Player-of-the-match: Mushfiqur Rahim
Player-of-the-series: Rashid Khan
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