Bangladesh All Out for 160 and Beaten by Seven Wickets as Afghanistan Reach the Final: Tigers Out of the Tri-Nation Series, Zimbabwe the Other Finalists

Bangladesh have lost their last chance to reach the final of the tri-nation series. On Wednesday (21 October) the Tigers were beaten by seven wickets by Afghanistan and eliminated from the tournament. After their batters failed and the side was bowled out for just 160, Bangladesh could not satisfy the run-rate equation either — to reach the final they had to keep Afghanistan within 119 runs, but Afghanistan passed that mark in 27 overs for the loss of three wickets. Zimbabwe are their fellow finalists.

Batting first, Bangladesh fell into trouble from the start against the Afghan bowlers, losing wicket after wicket. Amid that collapse, Parvez Hossain Emon and Saif Hassan tried to rebuild with the bat. Emon scored the team's highest, 70 runs, while Saif contributed 41.

Apart from the Emon-Saif resistance, however, there was no consistency in the rest of the batting. Bangladesh's innings finally folded for 160 in 41.2 overs. Failing to bat out the full 50 overs and the absence of a big partnership made the final equation almost impossible for Bangladesh.

Afghanistan's target for victory was 161 runs. But the real contest in the match lay in another equation: on net run rate, Bangladesh had to restrict Afghanistan to 119 runs to reach the final. In other words, winning alone was not enough — they had to win by a specific margin — and the Tigers took the field with the ball under that pressure.

With the ball, though, Bangladesh's start was promising. Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam attacked from both ends. In his second over Taskin removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz to bring the first breakthrough — the opener returned to the pavilion for 6 runs off 8 balls.

Taskin then removed Sediqullah Atal as his second wicket, brightening Bangladesh's hopes further. Losing two wickets early, Afghanistan were under pressure. At that moment it seemed the 119-run equation might genuinely be achievable.

But Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah did not let that pressure last. Batting responsibly together, they steadied Afghanistan's innings. Once their partnership passed fifty runs, Bangladesh's chances of reaching the final faded steadily — every run seemed to move the Tigers one step further from their dream.

With the team total on 95, Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Ibrahim Zadran, breaking his 56-run partnership with Rahmat Shah. Zadran returned having scored 34 runs personally. By then, however, the fate of the match was almost decided.

Rahmat Shah, holding one end, reached his personal half-century in the meantime. On his steady batting Afghanistan crossed the 119-run equation in 27 overs for the loss of three wickets — and at that moment Bangladesh's dream of reaching the final formally ended. Afghanistan eventually left the field with a seven-wicket victory.

You cannot reach a final batting like this — that was the essence of the supporters' frustration after the match. No team can be comfortable in international cricket with a total of 160, especially with the added condition of restricting the opponents to a specific score. The failure of everyone except Emon and Saif remained the biggest cause of this defeat.

For Afghanistan, this victory brought a ticket to the final. They will face Zimbabwe in the tri-nation series final. The two teams reached the final as a reward for consistent performances across the tournament, while Bangladesh had to return empty-handed.

Bangladesh now have no option but to look ahead. Why the batting collapses keep returning and why the team breaks down under the pressure of big matches — finding answers to these questions will be the team management's next task. The Tigers must now shake off the disappointment of this broken final dream and focus on preparing for the next series.