Delhi: Bangladesh bowled out Afghanistan for 156 in their ICC World Cup opener on Saturday. Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and opted to field first and the decision was vindicated by his bowlers’ impressive performance at the picturesque venue.

Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz top-scored for Afghanistan with a 62-ball 47 in an otherwise ordinary outing with the bat.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz played a crucial role in Bangladesh’s win. The all-rounder scalped three wickets and scored 57(73) to help Bangladesh maintain their grip throughout the contest. Mehidy also got a bit of assistance from the Afghanistan fielders, who gave him two early reprieves. He was first dropped by Najibullah at point while he was batting on 16 and then at the third-man region by Mujeeb Ur Rahman on 22.

In the past five encounters, Afghanistan have secured victory on three occasions, holding the upper hand with a 3-2 record against Bangladesh. They lost the two most recent meetings against the Bangladeshi side.’

This could be the last World Cup for Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Msuhfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah.

With this victory, Bangladesh have clinched their third-consecutive opening match of a World Cup campaign, having previously defeated Afghanistan (in 2015) and South Africa (in 2019).

Here’s the final scorecard:

Bangladesh Batting:

Tanzid Hasan 5(13)

Litton Das 13(18)

Mehidy Hasan Miraz 57(73)

Najmul Hossain Shanto* 59(83)

Shakib Al Hasan 14(19)

Mushfiqur Rahim* 2(3)

Afghanistan Bowling:

Fazalhaq Farooqi 1/19(5)

Mujeeb Ur Rahman 0/30(7)

Naveen-ul-Haq 1/31(5.4)

Rashid Khan 0/48(9)

Mohammad Nabi 1/18(6)

Azmatullah Omarzai 1/9(2)

Afghanistan Batting:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz 47(62)

Ibrahim Zadran 22(25)

Rahmat Shah 18(25)

Hashmatullah Shahidi 18(38)

Najibullah Zadran 5(13)

Mohammad Nabi 6(12)

Azmatullah Omarzai 22(20)

Rashid Khan 9(16)

Mujeeb Ur Rahman 1(4)

Naveen-ul-Haq 0(6)

Fazalhaq Farooqi* 0(3)

Bangladesh Bowling:

Taskin Ahmed 1/32(6)

Shoriful Islam 2/34(6.2)

Mustafizur Rahman 1/28(7)

Shakib Al Hasan 3/30(8)

Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3/25(9)

Mahmudullah 0/7(1