Afghanistan lost the series at home. That series created extra hype about the World Cup match. Bangladesh made a complete mess of it with a great performance with bat and ball in that hyped match. With a big win of 6 wickets, they started their World Cup mission with 1.48 bonus points along with two points.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl in the match held at the Dharamsala Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The two Afghan openers started well but were all out for 156 runs in 37.2 overs. Bangladesh also lost two wickets in the beginning in reply. Mehedi Miraj, who came out for three, and Nazmul Shanto, who came out for four, overcame the blow and took the team to the brink of victory. Miraj later returned, but Shanto returned with a fifty to win the match.
Earlier, two Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran shared a 47-run partnership. Shakib Al Hasan took the ball in the seventh over to break the pair that started well. He gave the team a much-needed break through. He caught young opener Ibrahim for 22 runs. Then left-arm spin all-rounder Shakib also removed Rahmat Shah (18).
Gurbaz and Hasmatullah Shahedi failed to cope with the blow. Shahedi, who fell for four, was caught by Miraz for 18 runs. The team's score was 112. From there, the Afghans lost three more wickets after scoring 14 runs. Opener Gurbaz, who scored 47 runs off 62 balls with four fours and a six, returned. Najibullah, who fell for five (5) and Mohammad Nabi (6) failed to score a six.
The Afghans could not handle the blow. They were all out in 37.2 overs. Liton (13) and Tanjid Tamim (5) returned within 19 runs in reply. Miraj, who came down for three, and Shanto, who came down for four, overcame the blow with a partnership of 97 runs. Miraj was out for 57 runs off 73 balls with five fours. Then Shakib returned for 14 runs. The road to victory was not difficult. Shanto scored 59 runs off 83 balls with three fours and a six and gave the team victory with 92 balls to spare.
For Bangladesh, two all-rounders Shakib and Mehedi Miraj took three wickets each. Miraj was named Man of the Match with a fifty. Left-arm pacer Shariful Islam took two wickets. Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman took the remaining two wickets. For Afghanistan, three pacers Farooqui, Naveen Ullah and Omarzai took one wicket each. Bangladesh did not give wickets to Rashid Khan or Mujeeb Urke.
English 
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