Target 157 | BAN Win by 6 Wickets with 92 balls to Spare
Match No. 3 of ICC Men’s CWC 2023 is being played at Dharamsala between Afganistan and Bangladesh. As per current ritual, Bangladeshi skipper offers Hashmatullah’s Men to bat first. The decision to bowl first prove deadly for AFG as Bangladesh restrict them to 156. Especially the second phase of the innings prove costly as Afghanistan go from 112/2 to 156/10 in no time.
And the chanse is on from BAN.
After excellent performance with the ball in the 1st innings, Bangladesh, start the run-chase in the 2nd innings of the 3rd match of ICC Men’s Cricket WC23. The openers: Tanzid and Das look aggressive from the very first ball and decide to take on every Afghan bowler.
Unfortunately, Tanzid gets runout on direct hit of Najibullah Zadran after scoring 5 while Litton Das also deprats with the inside edge to the stumps on Farooqi’s clever bowling. Both Bangla Openers go back to the pavilion in the 7th over when team’s total is 27.
Mehdi Hasan Miraz who showcases bowling skills in the first innings where bhe grabs 3 crucial wickets for 25 and Najmul Hasan Shanto put up a great show agaisnt the Afghanistan’s spin attack and provide 50 run stand for the 3rd wicket.
Both of them play sensibly and rotate strike every now and then despite lacking boundaries in 2023 CWC India. In the meantime, BAN cross 100 in 22.1 for the loss of 2 wickets. Further, a 64-ball fifty comes from the bat of Miraz who is surely the strong contender for the Batter of the Day in the 3rd match of WC23.
Shanto and Miraz take the game away from Afghanistan. They provide 97-runs partnership for the 3rd wicket off 129 deliveries striking the ball at 75. Rahmat Shah’s stunning effort in the field let Miraz go back to the pavilion after scoring 57 off 73. He’s scored five 4s in his innings of 57.
Shanto carry the day with the bat with his 80 balls half century at 62.5. His cameo includes only one 4 and one 6. Meanwhile Shakib who looks in hurry gets out on the boundary wall on Omarzai’s ball.
Afghanistan’s bad day with the bat, ball DRS and even with the field continues throughout the day. Afghanistan having deadly spin attack couldn’t challenge the BAN batters at any stage of the game. Afghanistan use 6 bowlers in the whole innings. Fazal Haq Farooqi, Omarzai and Naveen ul Haq get one wicket each in the 2nd innings of ICC WC23 match 03.
BAN chase down 157 in 34.4 overs with RR of 4.55. The winning run comes from Shanto’s bat who finishes the inning with two consecutive boundaries. He has scored 59 off 83 striking at 71. During their run chase BAN score thirteen 4s and only six which comes from Shanto’s bat. Bangladesh win their first match with superb run rate and tops the table after the end of the 3rd match of Cricket World Cup 2023.
