Southampton: After contributing with a crucial half century during the batting, World No.1 all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (5/29) produced a magical bowling display picking up a five-wicket haul to help Bangladesh to a 62-run win against Afghanistan in their World Cup encounter here, Monday.
Chasing a getable 263 runs, the Afghans, who showed a great fight before going down against India in their last match, just couldn’t handle Shakib’s fiery bowling to be all out for 200 runs in 47 overs. Skipper Gulabdin Naib (47) and Shamiullah Shinwari (49 n o) were the only batsmen to provide some resistance for the Afghans.
Shakib was ably supported by Mustafizur Rahman (2/32), Mosaddek Hossain (1/25) and Md Saifuddin (1/33).
With this win the Bangla Tigers rise up to fifth place in the rankings with seven points from as many matches. The top four spots belong to New Zealand (11 points), Australia (10), India (9) and hosts England (8).
Earlier, Mushfiqur Rahim (83, 87b, 4×4, 1×6) provided the much-needed impetus for Bangladesh as his fighting half century along with Shakib’s (51, 69b, 1×4) helped Bangladesh post a competitive 262/7.
The wicketkeeper-batsman held the innings together and his 61-run partnership with Shakib laid the foundation for a decent score on what seemed a difficult surface to bat on.
Mosaddek (35) provided the much-needed fireworks in the death overs, taking the total past 250. The stand-out bowler for Afghanistan was spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3/39), troubling the batsmen with his variations.
Afghanistan, who had played a tense game against India here Saturday, opted to field at the Hampshire Bowl. Liton Das (16) was promoted to open the innings alongside Tamim Iqbal (36) with Somya Sarkar pushed down the order. Das could not make the opportunity count and was caught at cover off Mujeeb.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 262/7 (Mushfiqur Rahim 83, Shakib Al Hasan 51; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3/39) beat Afghanistan 200 (Shamiullah Shinwari 49 n o; Shakib Al Hasan 5/29) by 62 runs.
