DHARAMSALA: The glittering all-round performance of Mehidy Hasan Miraz headlined Bangladesh's smooth six-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their World Cup opener in Dharamsala on Saturday.
Miraz first employed his off-spin effectively to take 3 for 25, helping Bangladesh to bundle out Afghanistan for 156, and then returned to make a crucial 57 off 73 balls in his side's facile chase that got over in 34.4 overs.
Najmul Shanto too chipped in for the Tigers with a patient unbeaten 59 off 83 balls.
Chasing 157, Bangladesh were wobbling a bit at 27 for 2 after openers Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das returned within the first seven overs. However, Miraz and Shanto milked 97 runs for the third wicket in just above 22 overs to carry Bangladesh closer to the finishing line.
Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan and Miraz exploited a slightly tacky pitch to the hilt to restrict Afghanistan to a meagre 156. Shakib and Miraz shared six wickets equally among them as Afghanistan spectacularly imploded, as only Rahmanullah Gurbaz (47 off 62 balls) offered some token fight. However, there was no sign of such a collapse when Afghanistan were comfortably placed at 112 for two in the 25th over.
The Afghanistan batsmen, who has a reasonable amount of experience in tackling spin, failed to read him either off the hand or off the pitch. Agencies
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