Mehidy Hasan Miraz's all-around performance gives Bangladesh a winning start in the ODI World Cup 2023

Bangladesh defeated Afghanistan six wickets on Saturday in Dharamsala to begin their Cricket World Cup campaign on a high note. All-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz claimed three wickets and struck a half-century.

After winning the toss and choosing to field, Bangladeshi skipper Shakib Al Hasan took three crucial wickets to put his team ahead, then Mehidy (3-25) cleaned out the tail. With 47, Rahmanullah Gurbaz led Afghanistan in scoring.

After that, Mehidy contributed significantly to Bangladesh's reply, scoring 57 runs off of 73 balls to help the 2015 quarterfinalists reach their goal of 157 in 34.4 overs.

Bangladesh's chase was off to a rough start at 27-2 as both of their openers left early. The entrance of Mehidy stabilised the ship, but the 25-year-old was fortunate to be dumped by Najibullah Zadran on 16 runs.

Mehidy and Najmul Hossain Shanto (59 not out) put up a combined score of 97. Bangladesh won easily despite Rahmat Shah's amazing one-handed catch ending Mehidy's run.

Afghanistan started the match well earlier on Saturday when Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran (age 22) and Rahmat (age 18) put up shaky stands. However, Shakib enticed both Ibrahim and Rahmat into taking risks, and a number of careless top edges ended the partnerships just when they were starting to appear dangerous.

Afghanistan was in a decent position at 112/2 after 24 overs despite losing two wickets, but their hopes of consolidating that position were severely damaged when Hashmatullah Shahidi and Gurbaz were removed in rapid succession.

Afghanistan's middle-order collapse was set off by that, as they lost their final six wickets for just 44 runs, finishing at 156.

Afghanistan will play the hosts India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday, October 11, while Bangladesh will next play the reigning champions England at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Tuesday.