Liton Das and Afif Hossain made a flying start that guided Bangladesh to seal the series by 2-0 as they registered a 6 wicket win in a rain-hit 17-over-a-side second and final Twenty20 international at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
The openers shared a crucial 67 off 55 balls before they were dismissed for 35 off 36 balls and a 20-ball 24.
However, the finishing line was drawn by Shamim who hit Wafadar Momand for a boundary to reach the hosts to victory the line, 119-4 with five balls to spare, in reply to their 116-7.
Bangladesh’s next highests came from Shakib Al Hasan [unbeaten 18 off 11] and Towhid Hridoy’s [19 off 17] bat.
With Bangladesh needing a modest 119, grabbed the momentum wholly after Liton made a flurry start with his opening partner Afif Hossain.
Liton smashed Farooqi back-to-back boundaries in the opening over to earn applause from the brimming galleries.
It further mounted as he smacked the debutant Wafadar Momand for straight three fours in the next over. Afif who was playing the anchoring role from the other end then joined the party hitting Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman for a maximum to bring in 50 for the hosts in the power play.
However, the duo lost the way soon-after their inning’s initial break after Mujeeb dismissed them in the tenth over to reduce them to 68-2, that slowed down their run pace along with soaring the pressure.
However, Towhid released the pressure pushing Mujeeb outside the boundary line followed by Shakib banged the latter for a boundary and Rashid for a maximum to pull the hosts to 99-3 in 14 overs before the former was caught to Mohammad Nabi for a 19-ball 17 by Omarzaim forming a 31 run stand.
The rest was done by Shakib and Shamim who led the home side to land on the shores of victory.
Taskin, who had a below-par outing in the one-off Test and the ODI series, conceded nine runs in the first four deliveries of his spell but came back strongly by removing Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 8 in the next ball.
The right-hand pacer then struck in the third over to stop the dangerous Hazratullah Zazai for four before the match was interrupted for an hour and a half due to rain.
Following the pause, the Afghans kept losing wickets at regular intervals, as they got reduced to 67-5 in 11 overs.
After that, Omarzai and Zanat tried to control the damage and accelerate their run rate, forming a 42-run stand for the sixth wicket off 29 balls before Mustafizur Rahman removed the latter after he played his innings off 21 balls, hitting two fours and one six.
Then Taskin once again struck to dismiss Zanat and limit the tourists to a humble total.
Mustafiz and skipper Shakib Al Hasan both scalped two wickets each.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan stood at an unbeaten 6 off 3 balls as he smashed a six in the final over of the innings bowled by Taskin.
