Bangladesh and Afghanistan faced each other in the 31st match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at The Rose Bowl, Southampton on Monday (January 24).

Set into bat first, Bangladesh rode on Mushfiqur Rahim (83 off 87 balls) and Shakib Al Hasan’s (51 off 69 balls) fifties to post 262/7 on the board. For Afghanistan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the stand-out bowler, claiming 3 wickets for 39 runs in his 10 overs. Skipper Gulbadin Naib also chipped in with a couple of scalps.

In reply, Naib and Rahmat Shah got Afghanistan off to a slow but decent start, adding 49 runs for the opening wicket. But the other batsmen failed to capitalize on it and they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

After his brilliance with the bat, Shakib stole the show with the ball as well. Naib (47), Shah(24), Asghar Afghan (20), Mohammad Nabi (0) and Najibullah Zadran (23) were his victims as the ace all-rounder picked up his second five-wicket haul in the 50-over format. Afterwards, it was the formalities left for the Bangladesh camp to complete the victory.

Although Samiullah Shinwari (49 not out off 51 balls) waged a lone battle for Afghanistan, it was never going to be enough. While Mustafizur Rahman got rid of Rashid Khan (2) and Dawlat Zadran (0), Mohammad Saifuddin dismissed Mujeeb (0) as Bangladesh eventually bundled out Afghanistan for 200 in 47 overs.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh – 262/7 in 50 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 83; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3/39) defeated Afghanistan – 200 all-out in 47 overs (Samiullah Shinwari 49*; Shakib Al Hasan 5/29) by 62 runs