Bangladesh started their World Cup 2023 campaign on a happy note as they dominated Afghanistan in their opening game of the tournament to win by six wickets in Dharamshala on Saturday.

This is the third time in a row that Bangladesh have kick-started their campaign with a win, and this is also their third consecutive win over Afghanistan in the tournament.

The morning did not show signs of such an easy win as the Afghans were off to a good start, scoring 112-2 in 24 overs, after put into bat by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan.

However, a catastrophic collapse, triggered by the Bangladesh bowlers, saw Afghanistan bowled out for just 156.Shakib and eventual Player of the Match Mehidy Hasan Miraz shared six wickets between them equally, while Shoriful Islam picked up two. Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman took one each.In reply, Bangladesh lost two early wickets as Tanzid Hasan Tamim (5) was run out callously, while Liton Das (13) was bowled off an inside edge by Fazalhaq Farooqi.From there, Mehidy and Nazmul Hossain Shanto, put up a 97-run stand to ensure that there were no worries for Bangladesh, and both notched up fifties to start their individual campaigns.While Mehidy was out on 57, Shanto stayed unbeaten on 59 to take Bangladesh home with 92 balls in hand, the most Bangladesh have had in any win at a World Cup.After the match, Mehidy said that their focus

is on the process, not the result.‘We don’t think about what will happen from the start. What we thought was that we will go ball-by-ball. The result will come at the end. If you look at the result, then you lose focus on what you need to do,’ said Mehidy.

‘So, what we think is that bowlers will bowl in right places, the batters will perform. If these happen, we will win,’ he said after the match.Earlier in the day, Bangladesh struggled to pick wickets early as Rahmanullah Gurbaz (47) and Ibrahim Zadran (22) put together a 47-run opening stand before Shakib got the latter.

Another partnership was budding between Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah (18) but that was also nipped by Shakib before Mehidy put the screws on Hashmatullah Shahidi (18) to get rid of him, and Mustafiz then removed the dangerous Gurbaz a couple of deliveries later.

From there, Bangladesh bowlers took charge, ensuring that there was no trouble from the tail, and bundled the Afghans out for a meagre 156.In reply, miscommunication between Liton and Tanzid saw the latter dismissed due to a run out before the former himself threw his wicket away by dabbling at a delivery outside off.

However, Mehidy and Shanto ensured that no jitters crept in during the chase, aided by some shoddy fielding from the Afghans, which included dropping Mehidy twice.

Mehidy was out by a brilliant catch before Shakib (14) holed out trying to get a net run rate boost but from there,Shanto finished the job smashing two consecutive boundaries.

Bangladesh will now take on defending champions England in their second game on Tuesday.