C T Online Desk: Afif Hossain and Mehedi Hasan Miraz’s unbroken seventh wicket partnership guided Bangladesh to a four-wicket win against Afghanistan in the first of three ODIs in Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Wednesday.
The left-handed Afif and right-handed Miraz, coming in at No 7 and 8 respectively, added 174 – highest seventh wicket stand for Bangladesh in ODIs – after the home side were shockingly reduced to 45/6.
The previous highest seventh wicket partnership was registered by Imrul Kayes and Saifuddin against Zimbabwe in 2018.
In the end Afif was unbeaten on 93 off 115, featuring 11 fours and a six, while Miraz made 81 not out off 120, with nine boundaries as Bangladesh reached their destination with seven balls to spare.
There were no more hiccups following the arrival of Afif and Miraz at the crease after a horrid start for the Tigers in pursuit of 216.
Captain Tamim Iqbal (eight), Liton Das (one), Shakib al Hasan (10), Mushfiqur Rahim (three), debutant Yasir Ali (nought) and T20I skipper Mahmudullah all departed in quick succession to leave Bangladesh in trouble.
Left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi (4/54) caused most of the early damage, while slow bowlers Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan picked up one each.
The second and penultimate ODI will be held at the same venue Friday.
Earlier, fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets as Bangladesh bowled out Afghanistan for 215, despite Najibullah Zadran’s half-century.
Afghanistan lost regular wickets after they elected to bat first at the start of the three-match series but Zadran gave them a respectable total with his 67.
Mustafizur returned figure of 3/35 while Shariful Islam (2/38), Shakib (2/50) and Taskin Ahmed (2/55) combined to rattle the Afghanistan batting.
Rahmat Shah (34), skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (28) and Mohammad Nabi (20) got starts but could not convert them into a big score.
Zadran put 63 runs with Nabi for the fifth wicket to help Afghanistan recover from 102/4.
Shariful ended Zadran’s patient 84-ball knock in the penultimate over as Mahmudullah took the catch at long-on.
Mustafizur wrapped up Afghanistan’s innings three balls later – in 49.1 overs – with the wicket of Yamin Ahmadzai.
Bangladesh: Liton Das, Tamim Iqbal (c), Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Yasir Ali, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Shariful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Yamin Ahmadzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi
