Afghanistan were bowled out for 156 runs with 12.4 overs remaining thanks to the spin of Shakib Al Hasan and Mehdi Miraj. The Tigers took control of the match by picking up wickets at regular intervals after overcoming the great batting pressure of the Afghans in the beginning.
Shakib’s team took the last 7 wickets for just 44 runs.
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and decided to field at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala on Saturday (October 7). The Afghans got off to a good start with the bats of the two openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. Shakib Al Hasan brought the first success to the Bangladesh team by sending Ibrahim back to Sajghar in the second ball of the 9th over. After that, the Tigers got their second success at the hands of the poster boy of Bangladesh. Rehmat Shah was sent to the pavilion by the Tiger captain.
Jadran went to sweep a flighted delivery outside off stump by Shakib. But if the ball is not batted, the ball goes to Tanjid Hasan Tamim at square leg. As a result, the Tigers got the taste of the first wicket in this World Cup.
Rahmat Shah made a partnership of 36 runs with Gurbaz for the second wicket. This pair was slowly becoming terrifying. However, the Tiger leader did not allow the pair to grow up. In the 16th over, the poster boy of Bangladesh came to the ball again. Shakib’s first ball of that over was top-edged and caught by Liton Das at mid-off. And with that, the second wicket fell for 83 runs to the Afghans. Rahmat Shah scored 18 off 25 balls before getting out.
After losing two wickets, Hasmatullah Shahidi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz took the lead for the Afghans. Mehdi Hasan Miraj did not allow martyrdom to last long. While playing a big shot on this off-spinner’s tossed up delivery, Shahidi got out with a catch in the hands of Tawhid Hridi. Mustafizur Rahman brought relief to the Bangladesh camp by dismissing Gurbaz who scored 47 runs in the next over. As soon as Shakib came to bowl in his second spell, he bowled Najibullah Zadran, who scored 5 runs, and sent him back to Sajghar.
Mohammad Nabi was bowled by Taskin Ahmed in the next over. Nabi wanted to play the ball on the off side along Taskin’s stumps. But the ball hits the leg stump on the edge of the bat. This all-rounder returned with 6 runs from 12 balls. After that, Miraz and Shariful Islam contributed a lot to crush the lower order of Afghanistan.
Miraj bowled Rashid Khan who scored 9 runs. Then he also bowled Mujib ur Rahman. Shariful returned Azmatullah Omarzai for 22 runs. Left-arm pacer Shariful dismissed Afghanistan’s last batsman Naveen-ul-Haq for no runs.
Shakib Al Hasan and Mehdi Hasan Miraj took 3 wickets each for Bangladesh. Shariful Islam took two wickets. Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed took one wicket each.
