Bangladesh won by 105 runs against Afghanistan
Bangladeshi bowlers have picked up wickets in regular intervals to restrict Afghanistan for 162 to claim a 105-run victory at their opening encounter at Manuka Oval in Canberra, Australia.
Mushfiqur Rahim whipped off the balls of the striking end to run out the last man Aftab Alam to the joy of all Bangladehi fans.
The match was virtually over when their last hope, the captain of the side Mohammad Nabi was the seventh man to fall when he was caught by Saumya Sarker for 44 in the Bowling of his counterpart, Masrafe bin Mortaza. That was the third wicket for the skipper of the Tigers. Afghanistan was in 136/7 at 37.1 overs required another 132 from 77 balls with just three wickets remaining.
Soon the 8 th wicket was gone when Mirwais Ashraf skied one to Mortaza in the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan.
Afghanistan lost half of their side for just 78 runs in 26 th over when Samiullah Shenwari was brilliantly run out by an accurate throw of Sabbir Rahman. Shenwari was going well with 42 runs from 75 balls.
Nawroz Mangal was the fourth victim when he was faboulously caught by Rubel Hossain in the bowling of Mahmudullah. He was out for 27 after made a 62-run partnership with Samiullah Shenwari.
Bangladeshi opening bowlers terrorised the Afghan top order as they picked up three wickets for as many runs.
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has given the vital break through for his side in the very first over . Rubel followed his captain and got rid of the other opener Afsar Zazai in the very next ball, which was the bowler’s first delivery of the match. Mashrafe picked up his second when Asghar Stanikzai edged one to second slip to Mahmudullah.
Mashrafe got rid of Javed Ahmadi in the last ball of the first over for 1 by taking the catch himself and Zaizai was adjudged Leg before wicket.
Afghanistan was on 46/3 after end of the 16th over till filling up the report.
Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim have recoverd Bangladesh after they had lost regular wickets against Afghanistan in their opening encounter of ICC world cup 2015 at Manuka Oval, Canberra.
They added 114 runs from only 93 balls after Bangladesh had lost 4th wicket when the score was 119 at 29.1 overs.
Eventually the men in red-green posted 267 runs on the board, they lost their last wicket in the final ball of the stipulated 50 overs.
Shakib Al Hasan was played on after played a brilliant 63-run innings from 51 balls.
With those runs he has reached the miletone of 4000 runs in ODI, the first ever Bangladeshi to do so.
Mushfiq soon followed him after a squash buckling 71 from 56.
Incidentally these two are the most experienced batsmen in the squad and they are the most formidable in the nations history. They gathered 1688 runs between their partnership in ODIs, by far the highest in Bangladesh history.
Mahmudullah was the latest casuality of the innings when he edged a Shapoor Zardan delivery to wicket keeper for 23.
The men in red-green had taken 25 overs to travarse the 100 mark thanks to some disciplined bowling and fielding of the Afghans.
Tamim Iqbal was out for 19 at the score of 47. His co-opener Anamul soon followed him and got out when the score was 52. Both of them were victim of Mirwais Ashraf.
Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah joined together and added 50 but soon the former who was going with more than run a ball got out for 28 as umpire obliged to the lbw appeal of Afghan fast bowler Shapoor Zardan.
Earlier, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza decided to bat first against Afghanistan on a Manuka Oval wicket that has the reputation of being very flat.
This is Afghanistan’s first World Cup match as they become the 13th Associate Nation to make their debut at the tournament, while Bangladesh open their fifth campaign.
Bangladesh have picked eight batsmen by including Soumya Sarkar with Shakib Al Hasan being their one specialist spinner.
Afghanistan will go with the full experience of Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai and Najibullah Zadran in the middle order.
This is the seventh match of the tournament and first match for both the teams.
Afghanistan beat Bangladesh in an ODI last year, the only ODI between the two teams. Bangladesh won a World T20 match against them.
Afghanistan Squad
Mohammad Nabi*, Afsar Zazai†, Aftab Alam, Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Javed Ahmadi, Mirwais Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Nasir Jamal, Nawroz Mangal, Samiullah Shenwari, Shapoor Zadran, Usman Ghani
Bangladesh Squad
Mashrafe Mortaza*, Al-Amin Hossain, Anamul Haque, Arafat Sunny, Mahmudullah, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim†, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed
Source: Dhaka Tribune
