Arizona Tribune - Liton ton gives Bangladesh ODI series win over Afghanistan

Liton's 136 off 126 balls guided the hosts to 306-4 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, before they bowled out the visitors for 218 to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Mushfiqur hit 86 off 93 balls to play his part before Taskin Ahmed (2-31) and Shakib Al Hasan (2-38) combined with other bowlers to wrap up the Afghanistan innings in 45.1 overs.

Afghanistan lost their first three wickets cheaply and were facing humiliation at 34-3 before Najibullah Zadran (54) and Rahmat Shah (52) lifted them with an 89-run stand for the fourth wicket.

But Taskin bowled Shah to break the partnership and then dismissed Zadran to put Bangladesh firmly in control.

Bangladesh had been in early trouble, when they opted to bat only for left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi to trap Tamim Iqbal leg-before for 12 and Rashid Khan to get rid of Shakib (20) off his second ball.

But Liton and Mushfiqur steadied the ship.

Liton brought up his fifth ODI century with a four off Rashid and hit 16 fours and two sixes in his innings.

Fareed Ahmad dismissed Liton and Mushfiqur off successive deliveries but not before they surpassed Bangladesh's previous highest third-wicket ODI partnership of 176 runs, set by Tamim and Mushfiqur against Pakistan in 2015.

"The partnership Liton and Mushy created was amazing," said Bangladesh captain Tamim. "Though we did not finish well with the bat the bowlers did the job for us."

Fareed finished with 2-56 for Afghanistan, playing his first match in the series.

"We conceded a few too many in the early overs and then that partnership between Mushy and Liton took the game away from us," lamented Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi.

It was the second Bangladesh partnership record of the series, after a seventh-wicket stand between Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan took them to a four-wicket victory in the first match on Wednesday.

The third and final match of the series will be held on Monday at the same ground.

F.Ramirez--AT