Bangladesh win bad-tempered opener

Cricket365
March 16, 2014

Bangladesh got the World Twenty20 off to a flying, if slightly niggly, start on Sunday as they beat Afghanistan by nine wickets in their first qualifier, with Shakib-al-Hasan the star with the ball.

The Tigers needed to win to get back at the Afghans for their Asia Cup defeat, and the game was not played in a friendly-yet-competitive spirit. The umpires were kept busy in terms of calming players down, stepping in to stop banter, and such.

As it was Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl, looking to chase a small target. They succeeded, as the minnows were all out for just 72, and the hosts then got those runs with eight overs to spare.

It went downhill for the men in blue from the first ball, when Mohammad Shahzad played a horrific swipe across the line, skied it, and was caught off Mashrafe Mortaza for a duck. Their game plan was clearly to go down swinging.

Shakib then took two quick top order wickets, leaving Gulbadin Naib as the top scorer with 21, as the rest of the order failed to add meaningful runs. Abdur Razzak also took two wickets, before Shakib ended the knock with Shapoor Zadran's wicket.

Bangladesh made light work of the chase amidst some ill tempered appealing, ball throwing and such, with Tamim Iqbal the only wicket to fall, for 21. Anamul Haque carried the side home with a six off the last ball of the 12th over.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Farhad Reza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Al-Amin Hossain, Abdur Razzak

Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad, Nawroz Mangal, Karim Sadiq, Shafiqullah, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Samiullah Shenwari, Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Aftab Alam, Najeeb Tarakai