Asia Cup BAN vs AFG: Mehidy, Taskin and Shanto heroes as Bangladesh win big

Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraz hit centuries while Taskin Ahmed 4/44 and Shoriful Islam 3/36 helped Bangladesh to a big 89-run victory

Bangladesh out behind their Asia Cup opener performance as they demolished Afghanistan by 89 runs in their second game of the tournament at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan on September 03, 2023. 

This win has kept alive Bangladesh’s chances of Super Four qualification. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto scored centuries for the team while Taskin Ahmed 4/44 and Shoriful Islam 3/36 did the job with the ball. 

As a result of this win, Bangladesh have two points on the board and are placed second in group B.

Chasing a target of 335 was never going to be easy for Afghanistan and it became even harder as they lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the second over itself. From there on, only Najibullah Zadran (75) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (51) were able to make meaningful contributions as Afghanistan were bowled out for 245 in 44.3 overs. 

Also Read: Asia Cup: Mehidy Hasan, Shanto hit centuries; break records for Bangladesh

Earlier, Bangladesh, who were down and out in the first match of the Asia Cup needed a really strong performance to fight back from the five-wicket loss against Sri Lanka in their tournament opener. They tempered with their batting line-up and it came out as a great call by the team management. 

Promoted to open the batting, Mehidy Hasan Miraz hit his second ODI century while Najmul Hossain Shanto continued his good form to hit his second ODI century as well. Miraz, along with his opening partner Mohammad Naim, added 60 for the first wicket to put Bangladesh on a nice pedestal to take the innings forward. 

Highest third-wicket partnership

Though two quick wickets fell, the spin-bowling all-rounder was not deterred from his resolve to keep batting. Shanto, the top scorer from the last game, where he scored 87, continued his good form as well. The duo added 215 for the third wicket, making it the highest third-wicket and fourth-highest stand for any wicket for Bangladesh in ODI cricket. 

Two batters score centuries in one match for Bangladesh 

This was also the fifth occasion when two Bangladesh batters scored a century in one innings of an ODI match. Previously, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim in 2015 against Pakistan, Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah in 2017 against New Zealand, Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes in 2018 against Zimbabwe and Litton Das and Tamim Iqbal in 2020 against Zimbabwe have achieved this feat. 

Highest individual scores for Mehidy

For Mehidy Miraz, it was his best-ever performance as a better in limited-overs cricket, eclipsing his previous performance of a hundred against India. Mehidy scored 112, which is now his highest individual score in ODIs. The all-rounder also achieved the feat of getting past 1000 runs in ODIs. With 88 wickets to his name, he will soon join the long list of players with 1000 runs and 100 wickets in ODIs to their name. 

Third highest ODI total for Bangladesh 

Thanks to Mehidy’s 112, 104 from Shanto and a little flourish at the end from newcomer Shamim Hossain, Bangladesh managed to reach 334/5, which is now their third-highest total in ODIs. Incidentally, their first and second-highest total of 349/6 and 338/8 respectively against Ireland, came in 2023 only, making it a high-grossing year for Bangladesh batting.

What happened at the toss?

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and elected to bat. Bangladesh made three changes to their playing XI which lost to Sri Lanka in the opening match. They brought in Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain and Hasan Mahmud in place of Tanzid Hasan, Mahedi Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman.