Bangladesh and Afghanistan have shared the title of the T20 tri-nation tournament as the final match was called off before a ball had been bowled after persistent rain in Dhaka.
Match Referee Graeme Labrooy called off the play at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium 9apm on Tuesday (Sept 24) after taking to both team's captains -- Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan.
There has been no scheduled reserve day for the final and according to the bylaws both Bangladesh and Afghanistan have been declared as joint champions of the tri-nation series.
The match was scheduled to start from 6:30 pm local time but rain from the afternoon dampened all the excitement of the game as crowd returned home with frustration.
Even toss could not be taken place on scheduled 6:00pm due to wet outfield.
Bangladesh won three matches in the tournament out of their four games. Tigers started the series with a narrow win over Zimbabwe and then lost to Afghanistan in the Dhaka phase of the series. Later on, in Chittagong, Bangladesh won both the games against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan to reach the final.
On the other hand, Afghanistan started the tournament with two wins and made a joint record with twelve straight wins in T20Is equaling Australia’s record. But Afghans looked a bit complacent after sealing the final berth in the later stage of the tournament as they lost both their games in the Chittagong phase.
The other participant of the tournament, Zimbabwe, have won only one match from their four outings and that came against Afghanistan which was also their captain Hamilton Masakadza’s last international game for Zimbabwe.
Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been adjudged man of the series in his debut tournament as he scored 133 runs in four innings with an average of 33.25 and strike rate of 134.34.
Bangladesh Shakib Al Hasan said with it was disappointing for the crowd as "they came with a high expectation to watch a very good game of cricket."
"It was an important match for us, we played some decent cricket leading up to the final. I think both teams ended up disappointed not to play the match. Some of the youngsters performed really well," he added.
On his playing in the CPL, Shakib said, "It's going to be a nice experience for me getting some games in before the India series. We know how important that tour will be for us."
Rahmatullah thanked the coaches and captain who supported him and the fans who prayed for him back home.
"My first time playing in front of such a crowd. It motivated me a lot to perform," he said.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said the crowd were amazing throughout the tournament.
"We would have definitely liked to have had a game and have a result... From the Test match, the way we delivered and the way the youngsters performed was amazing.
"The main target was to perform well in the longer version. Then the way we did in the first two games in the T20Is was also amazing. It was very pleasing to see," he said.