Bangladesh’s last Super eight game against Afghanistan at Arnos Vale Stadium in Saint Vincent was not only a battle for reaching the semi-finals, but also a battle of the two best all-rounders in the world in recent times, the Tigers’ Shakib al Hasan against the Afghans’ Rashid Khan.
And it was Rashid who won in every department as the Afghanistan skipper outshone the prolific Tigers all-rounder Shakib.
The leg-spinner led from the front to win the match and earn semi-final qualification, helping to write the greatest chapter in their cricket folklore.
Afghanistan batters were struggling when Rashid came out to bat as they were 93/5 in 17.4 overs.
Rashid then played a crucial cameo of 19 off just 10 deliveries which proved crucial as Afghanistan won by just eight runs in the end.
Among those 10 balls, Rashid smashed three sixes on a tricky pitch which was vital in the context of the tie.
Rashid did magic with the ball as well as the leggie took four wickets conceding just 23 runs in four overs, ripping off the Bangladesh middle-order with the wickets of Soumya Sarkar, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah and Rishad Hossain.
The Afghan captain was spot on with his leadership with clever bowling changes and sharp field placings which made Bangladesh’s job more difficult.
Although pacer Naveen-ul-Haq was adjudged player of the match for bagging four wickets, Rashid could be easily given the same award for his brilliant all-round display.
Rashid bowled well in the whole tournament to help Afghanistan continue their dream run as he grabbed 14 wickets in the tournament so far.
Rashid sent down 28 overs in seven matches and leaked just 6.1 runs per over which is brilliant.
By picking up four wickets against Bangladesh, Rashid crossed the 150-wicket milestone in Twenty20 Internationals.
He is now the second highest wicket-taker in T20Is with 152 scalps in 92 games, leapfrogging Shakib (149 wickets in 129 matches).
New Zealand’s Tim Southee is leading the chart with 164 wickets from 126 games.
In contrast, Shakib had a poor T20 World Cup overall as the ace all-rounder struggled with both bat and ball.
Shakib bowled four overs against the Afghans and gave away just 19 runs but did not manage to take any wicket.
And with the willow he got out for a golden duck when Bangladesh needed their most experienced player, who played all the nine T20 World Cups, to help the side get over the line in the most important match of their campaign, or perhaps in their entire T20I history as the chance of reaching a World Cup semi-final was on the cards.
Shakib struggled with his bowling form in the whole competition.
He remained wicketless in the first three Group D clashes and took two in the fourth game against Nepal.
In the Super Eight stage he did not bowl against Australia in the first match and bagged one wicket in the second game against India.
In seven matches, Shakib managed to pick up three wickets in 17.2 overs with the economy of 7.5.
And with the bat Shakib was not in good touch either although a vintage Shakib was seen against the Netherlands when he scored a match-winning unbeaten 64.
But overall his batting stats was not upto the mark as he scored 111 runs in seven games with just 106.73 strike rate.
Both Bangladesh and Afghanistan had the chance of reaching the semis and for that two of the best all-rounders had to play their part for respective side.
While Rashid managed to do it in style for the Afghans, Shakib failed to deliver his best for Bangladesh and ended up on the losing side.
