Cricket World Cup: All-round Miraz shines as Bangladesh thrash Afghanistan by six wickets

Bangladesh started their World Cup campaign on a winning note by defeating Afghanistan by six wickets in a day game at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium on Saturday.

Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh): An all-round show from Mehidy Hasan Miraz facilitated a six-wicket cakewalk for Bangladesh against Afghanistan in their World Cup lung-opener here on Saturday. While bowling Miraz claimed three wickets for 25 runs with his off-breaks to bowl out Afghanistan for a meagre 156. He came back to score a vital 57 off 73 balls inside 35 overs to wrap up the tie.

A patient 59 off 93 from Najmul Shanto did the rest. Replying to 157, Bangladesh at one point were tottering at 27 for 2 after openers Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das were back in the hut inside seven overs. But, Miraz and Shanto stitched a 97-run stand for the third wicket in just over 22 overs to carry Bangladesh over the line.

The Bangladesh batters adopted a cautious approach to start the innings with finding runs by nudging into the gaps and with occasional boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking. It was quite a justice for Miraz to bring Bangladesh the winning runs by smashing pacer Naveen-ul-Haq for two successive hits to the fences.

Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan and Miraz used the pitch conditions to restrict the Afghans to 156. Shakib and Miraz snared six wickets equally among them as only Afghan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz (47 off 62 balls) offered some resistance in front of the Tigers. There were signs of collapse when Afghanistan was comfortably placed at 112 for two at the halfway mark.

Gurbaz and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi were in the middle to share the third-wicket partnership. But the danger was caused by the pace-spin combination of Mustafizur Rahman and Miraz, who took quick 2 wickets in just five balls to put the Afghans in a spot of bother.