All-round Bangladesh cruise to emphatic win

Having endured one of their toughest cricketing seasons in 2014, Bangladesh did well to open their ICC World Cup 2015 campaign with a 105-run win over Afghanistan at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Bangladesh were humbled by their Asian neighbours during last year's Asia Cup, and exactly 355 days later, Mashrafe Mortaza and his men dished out a performance emphatic enough to prove that the defeat in March was nothing more than a fluke.

It was important for Bangladesh to win against a lesser-fancied Afghanistan side before they went on to face bigger and better opponents in England, Australia and New Zealand, so the fact that they were up to task in all three departments promises to keep them in good stead ahead of the remainder of the tournament. Two of their most prolific batsmen in Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim played crucial knocks to haul Bangladesh to 267, after which Mortaza (three for 20) and Shakib Al Hasan (two for 43) shot Afghanistan out for 162 with a little over seven overs to go.

Afghanistan's chase never quite got off to the kind of start they desired. Once their first three wickets were lost with just three runs on the board, it was left to Samiullah Shenwari and the likes of Asghar Stanikzai and captain Mohammad Nabi to take the side through. However, early wickets meant that Afghanistan were left with no other choice than to soak up deliveries, and by the time their premier batsmen walked out to bat, it was all a bit too late. Shenwari (42) and Nawroz Mangal (27) fought valiantly with a 62-run stand for the fourth wicket, but in the end, their effort wasn't enough.

With the help of some early swing and an attacking field, Mortaza and Rubel Hossain did the early damage, removing openers Javed Ahmadi and Afsar Zazair inside the first seven deliveries. The introduction of Taskin Ahmed and Shakib as third and fourth bowlers restricted the Afghanistan run-flow even though Mangal and Stanikzai held their respective ends. The period between the second and the third boundary lasted 10 overs and the batsmen's inability to rotate the strike escalated the asking rate.

Mangal was snapped up by Mahmudullah in the 23rd over, but Shenwari found support from skipper Nabi, with whom he combined for 58 runs. However, that proved to be their last bit effort at putting up a fight as after Nabi's run-out for 44, it took Bangladesh just five overs and 26 runs to wrap things up.

Having opted to bat, Bangladesh's start was far from promising with openers Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque struggling to get their timing right. Tamim began well with a couple of nicely-timed cover drives, but was later made to sweat hard by Shapoor Zadran and Hamid Hassan, who gave away only 23 runs in the first seven overs.

The opening pair crawled to 47/0 in 14.3 overs before Mirwais Ashraf, Afghanistan's first bowling change, gave his side its first World Cup wicket. Tamim played a reckless shot and edged a length ball to wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai and then added a second to his tally and had Anamul out leg before for 13. Mahmudullah (23) and Soumya Sarkar (28), after getting their eye in, safely guided Bangladesh through to 101 in 25 overs and brought up the 50-run stand in 57 balls. But their association was broken by Shapoor, who returned for his second spell and struck with the both their wickets in a gap of four overs.

Shakib and Mushfiqur, who played out a few overs safely, decided to shift gears the first over after the batting Powerplay. Shakib, with a four over the fine-leg boundary, reached 4000 runs in ODIs, becoming the first Bangladesh player to reach the landmark. The pair added 114 runs for the fifth wicket and their partnership included a wide array of shots.

Shakib (63 off 51 balls) and Mushfiqur (71 off 56) departed in quick succession while attempting big shots - the allrounder cleaned up by Hassan and the former skipper holding out to deep midwicket. At 223 for 4 in 44 overs, the stage was set for them to set their opposition a total nearing 280, but due to a spirited bowling effort in the death by Aftab and Hassan, Afghanistan staged a strong fightback in the last five overs and picked up Bangladesh's final six wickets for 44 runs.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 267 all out (Mushfiqur Rahim 71, Shakib Al Hasan 63; Shapoor Zadran 2/20) beat Afghanistan 162 in 42.5 overs (Mohammad Nabi 44, Samiullah Shenwari 42; Mashrafe Mortaza 3/20) by 105 runs.