Ahmadzai, Omarzai lay the foundation as Bangladesh fold for 160

Afghanistan blew Bangladesh away for 160 in the last round-robin game of the tri-series also involving Zimbabwe. Bangladesh's task to win this game by at least 41 runs to qualify for the final now looks like a bridge too far, as it looks increasingly likely that Afghanistan and Zimbabwe will make it there.

Yamin Ahmadzai and Azmatullah Omarzai reduced Bangladesh to 28 for 4 in seven overs, before a 93-run fifth wicket stand between Parvez Hossain Emon and opener Saif Hassan steadied Bangladesh. But Afghanistan's experienced spin duo of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan ended their resistance, with the latter ending with consecutive four-wicket hauls.

Ahmadzai, one of the two inclusions for Afghanistan in this match, took a wicket with his second delivery. He had Tanzid Hasan caught behind for 1, before removing Soumya Sarkar next ball. The left-hand batter crashed the ball back at his stumps to a tight delivery to which he had no business trying to play on the up. Ahmadzai was on a hat-trick, and although Najmul Hossain Shanto denied him, Bangladesh were left in trouble at 6 for 2 in the second over.

Omarzai then struck twice in the seventh over. He probed Shanto outside off a few times, before getting him to edge to wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz. One ball later, Omarzai took a one-handed reflex catch from Towhid Hridoy's leading edge, as Bangladesh fell to 28 for 4.

Saif and Parvez stemmed the flow of wickets with an unlikely defensive game. Saif finally opened up in the tenth over when he cracked Ahmadzai through the covers for two fours. Parvez launched Bilal Sami for a six over square leg, before taking another seven overs to find the next boundary. Saif lifted Rashid's full toss over midwicket for a six, a first from a Bangladesh batter against the bowler in three years.

Parvez started to find more boundaries, eventually reaching his second ODI half-century in the 32nd over. But the ball after Parvez reached the milestone, Saif played a poor shot to get out. Saif holed to cover for 41 off Nabi's much slower offbreak. Nangeyalia Khan, the substitute fielder who took Saif's catch, then caught Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who top-edged a hook off Sami in the next over. Bangladesh thus continued the trend of losing two wickets within a few deliveries.

Rashid took just three balls to get his first wicket in the game, bowling Shoriful Islam with one that spun away from the left-hander. He got Parvez's wicket, trapped lbw for 70, in his next over, as Bangladesh slipped towards a rapid end.

Debutant Aliss Al Islam fell a ten-ball duck as Nabi took a brilliant catch at slip when he dived to his left and got the ball on the second attempt while falling on his elbow. Next ball, Rashid cleaned up Mustafizur Rahman's stumps to end the innings.