World Cup: Bangladesh hand Afghanistan 6-wicket defeat

KABUL (Pajhwok): Bangladesh thrashed Afghanistan by six wickets in their ODI World Cup opener in Dharamsala on Saturday.

Afghanistan, who were asked to bat first, were folded for 156 in 37.2 overs, following which Bangladesh completed the run chase quite comfortably.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz played a crucial role in Bangladesh’s win. The all-rounder scalped three wickets and scored 57(73) to help Bangladesh maintain their grip throughout the contest, Hindustan Times reported.

Mehidy also got a bit of assistance from the Afghanistan fielders, who gave him two early reprieves. He was first dropped by Najibullah at point while he was batting on 16 and then at the third-man region by Mujeeb Ur Rahman on 22.

Najmul, on the other hand, returned unbeaten on 59(83) helping Bangladesh wrap the proceedings with 15.2 overs to spare.

Earlier, Afghanistan got off to a decent start as Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz added 47 runs for the opening wicket.

Shakib provided Bangladesh with the first breakthrough as he removed Ibrahim for 22(25) in the ninth over. Shakib then got rid of Rahmat Shah for 18(25), following which the run-rate dropped resulting in further inroads.

Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi was dismissed for 18(38) by Mehidy and Mustafizur Rahman sent Gurbaz to the pavilion in the next over for 47(62). Afghanistan lost two more wickets in quick succession, with Shakib cleaning up Najibullah Zadran for 5(13), and Taskin Ahmed doing the same against Mohammad Nabi (6 off 12).

The tail also couldn’t do much as a few hits by Azmatullah Omarzai towards the end guided Afghanistan to a respectable 156. Azmatullah scored 22 off 20 balls before getting out to Shoriful Islam.

sa/ma

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