Bangladesh got the better of World Cup debutants Afghanistan by 105 runs in their World Cup opener at Canberra. Bangladesh outclassed their Asian rivals in all the departments to come out victorious. Former Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim was named the Man of the match.
Chasing 268 to win, Afghan were never in the contest as they were reduced to 3-3 in their first three overs as skipper Mashrafe Mortaza sent back opener Javed Ahamedi and Agshar Stanikzai with Rubel Hossain getting rid of Afzar Zazai. Former skipper Nowraz Mangal and Samiullah Shenwari steadied the ship with a 62 run partnership for the fourth wicket before Mahmudullah struck. Skipper Mohammad Nabi scored a brisk 44 before getting out in an attempt to reduce the required rate. Shakib Al Hasan then returned and cleaned up the tail for just 162 runs in 43 overs earning his side a victory of 105 runs. <ortaza was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-20 in his 9 overs while NAbi topscored for his team with 44 off 43 balls.
Earlier choosing to bat, Banglasdesh started slowly before losing their way in the middle courtesy some brilliant bowling from Shapoor Zadran and Mirwais Ashraf. It was when Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim reprived the innings with a 134 run partnership for the fifth wicket. In the process, both ethe batsmen reached atheir fifties and Shakib Al Hasan became the first Bangladeshi to score 4000 ODI runs. Hamid Hassan and Aftab Alam came back in the end and cleaned up the Bangladeshi tail as scoring became dfficult in the last few overs restricting the Tigers for 267 from a stage from where 280 looked good. Mushfiqur scored 71 while Shakib accounted for 63. Shapoor was the pick of the Afghan bowlers for figures of 2-20 in his 7 overs.