Published: Feb 18, 2015, 09:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 18, 2015, 09:47 PM (IST)
The entire world watched Afghanistan’s World Cup debut anticipating them to cause an upset. In the Pool B match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Afghanistan got off to a good start. They had beaten Bangladesh in the Asia cup last year and once the former were reduced to 119 for four in the 30th over, many expected the same. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Full coverage
However, some were over optimistic like the US embassy in Afghanistan, who just after the start of the match, had tweeted congratulating the country on their first ever World Cup win! However, Bangladesh’s two best batsmen – Shakib Al Hasan (63) and Mushfiqur Rahim (71), staged a recovery. The duo added 114 from just 93 balls. At one stage, Bangladesh looked on course for a 300, but good disciplined bowling from Afghanistan restricted them to 267.
While everyone expected an Ireland like chase from Afghanistan, but the World Cup debutants fell flat. Their score read 3 for 3 after three overs! Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi showed some resilience with a quick 44 but that wasn’t enough as they crashed to a 105 run defeat. With a win in their opening game, Bangladesh move to the third spot in the points table in Pool A.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 267 in 50 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 63, Mushfiqur Rahim 71; Shapoor Zardan 2-20, Mirwais Ashraf 2-32) bt Afghanistan 162 in 42.5 overs (Samiullah Shenwari 42, Mohammad Nabi 44; Mashrafe Mortaza 3-20, Shakib Al Hasan 2-43) by 105 runs
