Bangladesh thrash Afghanistan
| ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP, MATCH 7: BANGALDESH VS AFGHANISTAN |
| Bangladesh 267 (50 Overs) |
| Afghanistan 162/9 (42.5 Overs) Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 105 runs |
Bangladesh opened their World Cup 2015 book with a big and convincing 105-run victory over Afghanistan in the seventh match of the World Cup 2015 at Canberra today.
Other than the slow start in the beginning of the match following the toss win, Bangladesh were dominant on the field throughout the game – in batting, bowling and fielding.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Bangladesh made 267 riding on fifties of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim against Afghanistan, a side that has played their first World Cup match today.
Credit to Afghans, they managed to choke Bangladesh's innings in the start. Openers Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque were lost with not much runs on the scoreboard.
Midway into the innings, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim struck fifties and revived the Bangladesh innings, picking up the scoring rate with a flurry of boundaries.
They made a 114-run recovery stand and struck 48 in the batting powerplay overs.
Later on, Mashrafe Mortaza struck some boundaries to take the score beyond 250. Afghan bowlers managed to pack up Bangladesh at the final delivery of 50th over.
Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran, Aftab Alam and Mirwais Ashraf claimed two wickets each for Afghanistan and skipper Mohammad Nabi took one.
| Bangladesh | Runs | Balls | |
| Anamul Haque | lbw b Mirwais Ashraf | 29 | 55 |
| Tamim Iqbal | c †Afsar Zazai b Mirwais Ashraf | 19 | 42 |
| Soumya Sarkar | lbw b Shapoor Zadran | 28 | 25 |
| Mahmudullah | c †Afsar Zazai b Shapoor Zadran | 23 | 46 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | b Hamid Hassan | 63 | 51 |
| Mushfiqur Rahim† | c Samiullah Shenwari b Mohammad Nabi | 71 | 56 |
| Sabbir Rahman | b Hamid Hassan | 3 | 8 |
| Mashrafe Mortaza* | b Aftab Alam | 14 | 9 |
| Mominul Haque | run out (†Afsar Zazai) | 3 | 3 |
| Rubel Hossain | not out | 0 | 2 |
| Taskin Ahmed | b Aftab Alam | 1 | 3 |
| Extras 13 | Total | 267 |
In reply, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza led from the front as Tigers struck thrice early to choke up the Afghan innings and drying out the scoring rate.
Mashrafe took two in the first and third overs of the match while Rubel Hassan claimed one in between. Afghanistan were never allowed a scoring rate of beyond 4 an over.
Afghanistan's hopes ended with the fall of skipper Mohammad Nabi, 44, under pressure in a delivery off his counterpart Mashrafe Mortaza.
Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza was the most successful of the Bangladeshi bowlers with three wickets. Shakib claimed two while Rubel, Taskin and Mahmudulla claimed one apiece.
| Afghanistan | Runs | Balls | |
| Javed Ahmadi | c & b Mashrafe Mortaza | 1 | 2 |
| Afsar Zazai† | lbw b Rubel Hossain | 1 | 5 |
| Nawroz Mangal | c Rubel Hossain b Mahmudullah | 27 | 57 |
| Asghar Stanikzai | c Mahmudullah b Mashrafe Mortaza | 1 | 7 |
| Samiullah Shenwari | run out (Sabbir Rahman/†Mushfiqur Rahim) | 42 | 75 |
| Mohammad Nabi* | c Soumya Sarkar b Mashrafe Mortaza | 44 | 43 |
| Najibullah Zadran | lbw b Shakib Al Hasan | 17 | 34 |
| Mirwais Ashraf | c Sabbir Rahman b Shakib Al Hasan | 10 | 15 |
| Aftab Alam | run out (Soumya Sarkar/†Mushfiqur Rahim) | 14 | 12 |
| Hamid Hassan | c Anamul Haque b Taskin Ahmed | 0 | 5 |
| Shapoor Zadran | not out | 2 | 2 |
| Extras 3 | Total | 162 |
The victory today will boost the confidence of Tigers and is expected to ease up the memory of the Asia Cup defeat to Afghanistan in 2014.
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Bangladesh
Anamul Haque, Tamim Iqbal, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Mortaza (C), Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain
Afghanistan
Javed Ahmadi, Afsar Zazai (wk), Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Nabi (C), Mirwais Ashraf, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran