Afghanistan restrict Bangladesh to 267 in their first World Cup clash

Afghanistan made a promising start to its Cricket World Cup debut, taking four early wickets and then rallying after Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim combined in a 114-run partnership to bowl Bangladesh out for 267 in the Pool A match on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_2105849” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Afghanistan’s Hassan Hamid appeals unsuccessfully to the umpire for the wicket of Bangladesh’s Al Hasan Shakib. AP[/caption] Fast bowler Mirwais Ashraf took Afghanistan’s first World Cup wicket, having Tamim Iqbal (19) acrobatically caught by wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai to end a 47-run opening stand. Bangladesh slipped to 52-2 when Ashraf struck again, trapping Anamul Haque (29) lbw, and to 119-4 in the 30th after Shapoor Zadran (2-20) removed Soumya Sarkar (28) and Mahmudullah (23). Veterans Mushfiqur (71) and Shakib (63) restored the innings for Bangladesh before both were dismissed in a late collapse, with Afghanistan taking three wickets in the last seven balls. Bangladesh, which has been playing at the World Cup since 1999, was under intense pressure entering the match as the established team in cricket’s elite against a team that started almost from scratch in the last two decades. Afghanistan, which won its only previous one-day international against Bangladesh at the Asian Cup last year, showed nerves and inexperience, though, failing to refer at least two questionable umpiring decisions to the third umpire and giving away too many runs for overthrows from basic fielding errors. And in the 33rd over, leg spinner Samiullah Shenwari had to be taken out of the attack after bowling just seven balls when he failed to heed a caution from the umpire for running on the pitch after his delivery stride. Tamim could easily have been out in the third over when he flashed at a ball from Hamid Hassan outside off stump. Afghanistan appealed confidently for a caught behind decision but umpire Steve Davis wasn’t moved. TV replays appeared to suggest there was a slight edge, which likely would have been picked up on review. After 30 overs, Bangladesh stole the ascendency through the experienced pair of Mushfiqur, who brought up the 200 with a six immediately after surviving a confident appeal for lbw against Aftab, and Shakib, who passed 4,000 career ODI runs during his innings. Shakib hit 63 from 51 balls before was eventually bowled by a slower ball from Hassan in the 45th over, trigging a flurry of late wickets. Mushfiqur hit a full toss straight to Shenwari off Mohammad Nabi as the score slipped to 247-7 in the 48th. As Bangladesh chased quick runs to increase the target, Mominul Haque (3) was run out and then Aftab Alam bowled Mashrafe Mortaza (14) and Taskin Ahmed with the first and last deliveries of the 50th over. AP