Asia Cup 2018: Birthday boy Rashid inspires Afghanistan to win

Abu Dhabi, September 21: Rashid Khan celebrated his 20th birthday by taking 2-13 and making an unbeaten half-century in Afghanistan's 136-run Asia Cup win over Bangladesh.

Asia Cup 2018 Schedule

Though both nations were already through to the Super Four stage, Afghanistan, who face Pakistan next, recorded their second big win of the group stage.

Afghanistan, for whom Hashmatullah Shahidi (58) top-scored, were 160-7 when Rashid (57 not out) and Gulbadin Naib (42 not out) came together to put on an unbroken 95-run stand in 9.1 overs to lift their nation to 255-7 by the innings' end.

Bangladesh came up well short in their reply, as Rashid accounted for Shakib Al Hasan (32) and Mahmudullah (27) in an effort that ended 119 all out inside 43 overs.

"I'm really happy with my performance and the best thing was I performed with both bat and ball," Rashid said at the post-match presentation.

"My main focus was to bat until the end and I think our preparation was good to play until the end."

Afghanistan win by 136 runs!

That is an absolute thumping, and an exquisite team bowling performance, with six bowlers taking a wicket and no one claiming more than two.#BANvAFG SCORE ➡️ https://t.co/lrwXpuwMMb#AsiaCup2018 pic.twitter.com/qEe7Xqbb6Y

— ICC (@ICC) 20 September 2018

Rashid's 57 came from just 32 balls and he scored eight fours as well as the innings' only maximum, while his 2-13 with the ball came from nine overs, three of which were maidens.

Gulbadin, whose partnership with Rashid was a national record for the eighth wicket in one-day internationals, also impressed with the ball, returning figures of 2-30 from his six overs.