Bangladesh started their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign with a convincing six-wicket win over Afghanistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The star of the show was Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who shone with both bat and ball. He took three wickets for 25 runs in his 10 overs, and then scored a fluent 57 off 69 balls to anchor the chase.
He was well supported by Najmul Hossain Shanto, who remained unbeaten on 58 off 85 balls. The duo added 97 runs for the third wicket after Bangladesh lost two early wickets.
Bangladesh reached their target of 157 in 34.4 overs with six wickets in hand.
Earlier, Afghanistan were bowled out for 156 in 37.2 overs after opting to bat first. They got off to a good start with Rahmanullah Gurbaz scoring 47 off 54 balls, but lost their way in the middle overs.
Shakib Al Hasan was the chief destroyer for Bangladesh, taking three wickets for 30 runs in his 10 overs. He dismissed Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah and Najibullah Zadran to break the backbone of the Afghanistan batting.
Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed also chipped in with two wickets each, while Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan were the only other batsmen to reach double figures for Afghanistan.
This was Bangladesh’s first win over Afghanistan in a World Cup match, having lost to them in 2015 and 2019 editions.
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