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During the third and deciding ODI of the series against Bangladesh at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan spinner, avoided a potentially serious head injury as wicket-keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz jumped over him while they both went to field the ball simultaneously. In the first half of the highly pulsating contest, Bangladesh went on to post a competitive total of 244/8 in their allotted overs, with fifties from the captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz and the veteran Mahmudullah Riyad.
The incident involving Rashid Khan and Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the field during Bangladesh’s innings could have been a catastrophic one as they barely avoided a major collision. In the video footage, Gurbaz could be seen trying to jump over Rashid safely, but his right knee, which was padded up, scraped the head of the Afghanistan spinner before his right boot luckily collected just the floppy hat off of his head.
Watch the video of Rashid Khan avoiding head injury here:
Mahmudullah Riyad scores 98 as Bangladesh reach 244/8 against Afghanistan in third and deciding ODI
In the Bangladesh innings, Afghanistan bowlers picked up four early wickets, to put themselves in a strong position before Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mahmudullah shared an exceptional fifth wicket stand of 145 runs, to bring their team back into the contest. While Miraz scored a measured 66 off 119 with just four fours, the senior statesman Mahmudullah was within just two runs of yet another ODI hundred, putting together an innings of 98 runs in 88 balls with seven fours and three maximums.
Bangladesh finished their innings on 244/8 in their allotted 50 overs after Azmatullah Omarzai picked up four wickets, including the likes of Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mahmudullah Riyad in his seven-over spell, while conceding just 37 runs. Everpresent Mohammad Nabi bowled his 10 overs for figures of 1/37 with two maidens, while Rashid Khan got a wicket in his full quota of overs while going at just four runs to the over despite the fifth-wicket partnership between Miraz and Mahmudullah.
