Afghanistan's middle-order batters failed to live up to the expectations in their ODI World Cup 2023 opening encounter against Bangladesh. As a result, Mujeeb Ur Rahman had to pad up earlier than he expected. In a hurry, Mujeeb walked out to bat but soon he realised that he was not wearing an abdomen guard.
As he was about to face his first ball, Mujeeb awkwardly signalled to the dressing room to bring out his abdomen guard. One of the sub-fielders came running to the ground to hand it to Mujeeb. Meanwhile, Bangladesh opener Litton Das walked up to the Afghan spin all-rounder and teased him.
Mujeeb wore the abdomen guard in a jiffy to take the strike against Mehidy Hasan Miraz. He took a single off the first ball he faced. In Miraz's next over, Mujeeb went for a slog but missed the ball completely and got bowled. He contributed to Afghanistan’s batting collapse as they got bowled out for 156 in the 38th over of the innings.
Later, Mujeeb could not do much damage with the ball. The 22-year-old off-spinner conceded 30 runs from seven overs and remained wicketless. Bangladesh chased down the total from 34.4 overs with six wickets in hand. Miraz who took three wickets scored 57 runs from 73 balls. Najmul Hossain Shanto remained unbeaten for 59 off 83 balls.
“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,” Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said in the post-match presentation.
This was Afghanistan's 13th consecutive defeat in the ODI World Cups from the 2015 edition to the ongoing tournament. On the other hand, this was Bangladesh's first ODI win on Indian soil in 17 years. Their first two wins came against Kenya and Zimbabwe in 1998 and 2006 respectively.
Afghanistan will face India in their second encounter at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on October 11.
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