We were way off the mark predicting a win for Bangladesh. Sorry. Afghanistan’s debut in the Cricket World Cup didn’t go to plan against a classy Bangladesh outfit in day five’s only game.
Day 5 Results
Afghanistan v Bangladesh
The two most important players to Bangladesh Cricket World Cup chances both delivered in their opening effort against Afghanistan. Mushfiqur and Shakib both broke the mould of twenties to combine for a partnership of 114, and set their opponents a demanding total of 267. The top-order’s earlier efforts lacked momentum as Afghanistan made a good fist of bowling first after Bangladesh opted to bat. Those efforts were overturned, however, after the captain and former captain entered the fray. Shakib in particular justified his ranking as the world’s top ranked ODI all-rounder with an entertaining 63.
Afghanistan can play, but when they lost wickets in each of the first three overs the writing was on the wall. Mashrafe Mortaza did most of the damage. He took 3-20, and Afghanistan mustered just 162; bundled out in the 43rd over.
Bangladesh deserved to be buoyed by their enterprising opening in a mac that could have been trickier than they made it. They’ll back themselves to snap up a quarter-final spot now and plausibly push for an upset once there. Afghanistan can look forward to games against Scotland and Australia (lol) as the games to target in order to achieve a first Cricket World Cup win.
Bangladesh 267 (Mushfiqur 71, Shakib 63, Shapoor 2-20) beat Afghanistan 162 (Nabi 44, Mashrafe 3-20) by 105 runs
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