Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, World Cup 2023 Match 3: Awards List, Man of The Match, Key Stats, Presentation Ceremony

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Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, World Cup 2023 Match 3: Bangladesh kicked off their World Cup 2023 campaign by beating Afghanistan by six wickets at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday.

In the first morning match of the World Cup 2023, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and opted to bowl first. No Afghanistan batter other than opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (47 off 62) could cross the 25-run mark.

Left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan and off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz picked three wickets each to bundle out Afghanistan for 156 in 37.2 overs. Shoriful Islam picked two wickets, while Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman picked one wicket apiece.

Bangladesh chased down the target in 34.4 overs for the loss of four wickets after fifties from Mehidy Hasan Miraz (57) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (59*). Rashid Khan bowled nine overs but could not pick any wicket. Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Azmatullah Omarzai picked one wicket each.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan World Cup 2023: Full List of Awards

Man of the Match: Mehidy Hasan Miraz (BAN) for picking three wickets and scoring 57 runs.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, World Cup 2023: Who Said What?

Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh captain): Very happy with the way we played. We believed if we got a wicket, we could come back in. Wasn't easy for a few players, but I was happy with the way we batted and bowled. We have been practicing here. We need to adapt to these things (tough outfields) if we want to win. We got three, four fast bowlers, they can change any game and I hope they will bowl well in the upcoming games, it's a long tournament. He (Mehidy) has been playing very well. Shanto is another one in the dressing room, they always want to perform well for the team.

Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan captain): We had a good start, but we had bad shot selections after that. I think we fought well, but the score wasn't good enough. Looking forward to the next game. Need to learn from our mistakes, need to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Player of the Match): It’s a great moment for me, I’ve done a lot of hard work in the past. Credit to the team management because they believed in me. I was a bit cautious, the captain told me to bowl in the right areas. He told me to be consistent and to focus on my own performance so credit to the captain. I took it ball by ball, didn’t look at the runs. Wicket was turning a bit, I just tried to play straight. I’ve always batted at no.8 so a great moment for me to bat at the top of the order. They tried me at the top of the order in the last few matches and it’s a great moment for me.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan World Cup 2023: Key Stats

• Afghanistan have now lost 13 consecutive matches in ODI World Cup

• Shakib Al Hasan has third-highest number of wickets among spinners in ODI World Cup. He has picked 37 wickets and is only behind Muthiah Muralidaran and Imran Tahir.