Canberra, Australia (BBN)-Bangladesh added Afghanistan to their list of World Cup scalps with a magnificent 105-run triumph at Canberra in Australia on Wednesday.
With the victory, Tigers made a firm step into the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament.
Mushfiqur Rahim shared 71 with Shakib Al Hasan’s 63 score to revive Bangladesh sending a 267-10 post.
Tigers exhibited their mighty grip on World Cup debutant Afghanistan, limiting them only in 162 runs at Manuka Oval.
Afghanistan made the tally in 42.5 overs in their first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Mushfiqur Rahim is named as the man-of-the-match for his oustanding performance.
He scored 71 while Shakib Al Hasan also added 63 runs.
Earlier, Bangladesh set the target of 268 runs for Afghanistan who showed a disciplined and feisty beginning in their opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
All-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan become the first Bangladeshi cricketer who scored 4,000 runs milestone in ODI match.
Bangladesh scored exact 267 losing 10 wickets.
Earlier, two half centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al-Hasan revived Bangladesh from a blow of mighty Afghanistan at Manuka Oval on Wednesday.
Feisty Afghanistan exhibited a mighty control over Bangladesh in their World Cup debut sending top orders back to pavilion one after another.
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.
Earlier Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and decided to bat first.
Like all the four major South Asian teams, Bangladesh have plenty of support in Australia, particularly around Sydney.
Media reports said that a lot of fans converged to Canberra from Sydney.
This is only the fifth ODI to be played at this ground, which can hold a crowd of 13,000.
A sizable Bangladeshi contingent has already descended on the Australian capital.
Earlier, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza had expressed his optimistic on winning the match.
“The kind of squad we have, I am confident we can reach the quarter-finals,” said the skipper.
Experts said, Bangladesh’s short batsmen would be wary of Afghanistan’s fast bowlers who can generate good pace and bounce and a hard Manuka Oval pitch would assist their kind of bowling.
In fact, the two teams have already faced off once, last year in an Asia Cup match in March, and it was the sprightly Afghans who came out trumps, shocking their regional big brothers by 32 runs.
For bringing the success, the Tigers bank on Shakib Al Hasan, arguably the best player who will take to the pitch in Canberra.
TEAM
Bangladesh: Anamul Haque, Tamim Iqbal, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Mortaza (skipper), Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain
Afghanistan: Javed Ahmadi, Afsar Zazai (wk), Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari, Mohammad Nabi (skipper), Mirwais Ashraf, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran
BBN/AS/ASI-18Feb15-4:55pm (BST)
