World Cup: Afghanistan 83/2 against Bangladesh

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan launched their 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup campaign against Bangladesh in Dharamsala on Saturday.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl first in the 50-over match. Afghanistan are currently 83 for the loss of two batters.

Opener Ibrahim Zadran was dismissed for 22 runs and Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah are at the crease.

The last time the two sides met was during the Asia Cup, where Bangladesh had pipped Afghanistan by 89 runs.

In their two recent warm-up games, Bangladesh lost one and won another. Afghanistan also won one outing while the second game was abandoned due to rain.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi says his team is “totally ready” for their third Cricket World Cup.

“We have had meetings, we prepared ourselves and we know them [Bangladesh] very well, so we will play accordingly and we will try our best as a team to bounce back in this game against them.”

sa/mud