Bangladesh's batting failures end UAE tri-series campaign

Bangladesh's fragile batting proved costly once again as they crashed out of the UAE ODI tri-series without a win, suffering a seven-wicket defeat to Afghanistan in their final group match in Sharjah on Wednesday.

Having lost their opening match to Zimbabwe by 99 runs, Bangladesh needed a convincing victory over Afghanistan to keep their hopes of reaching Friday's final alive. Instead, another batting collapse ended their campaign in disappointing fashion.

Opting to bat first, Bangladesh were reduced to 28 for four inside seven overs as Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto and stand-in captain Towhid Hridoy departed cheaply.

Parvez Hossain Emon and Saif Hassan offered some resistance with a 93-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Emon top-scored with a career-best 70 off 96 balls, while Saif contributed 41.

Their stand briefly steadied the innings, but Bangladesh failed to build on the recovery. Leg-spinner Rashid Khan claimed four wickets for 31 runs as the Tigers lost their last five wickets for just 39 runs, folding for 160 in 41.2 overs. 

Afghanistan needed only 35.3 overs to reach 161 for three and seal victory with seven wickets in hand. Rahmat Shah remained unbeaten on 67, while Hashmatullah Shahidi made an unbeaten 36. Taskin Ahmed took two wickets for Bangladesh.

The defeat followed an equally disappointing performance against Zimbabwe, when Bangladesh were dismissed for 172 in 33.4 overs while chasing 272. The back-to-back losses exposed the team's continuing difficulty in building partnerships and recovering from early setbacks.

Across their two matches, Bangladesh failed to reach 200 in either innings. Their inability to post competitive totals ultimately left their bowlers with little room for error.

Afghanistan advanced to the final against Zimbabwe, while Bangladesh were left to reflect on a campaign in which recurring batting failures overshadowed their efforts with the ball.