Bangladesh thrashed by Afghanistan in WC warm-up match

Death over issues with the ball and a crumbling top-order reared their ugly heads again for Bangladesh in their opening World Cup warm-up match against Afghanistan in Brisbane today, resulting in a 62-run defeat.

Chasing 160 runs seemed a bit too much for Bangladesh as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals from the very beginning of their chase.

Najmul Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz opened with the bat in the absence of Liton Das, but Fazle Haq Farooqi shook Najmul's stumps after he scored 12 runs. Then came Soumya Sarkar batting at number three. The southpaw was dismissed by Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 1.

Both Shakib and Afif Hossain were outplayed by the swing of Farooqi. Shakib bagged only 1 while Afif went for a duck.

Miraz played a sluggish 16-run innings from 31 balls. His misery ended when Naveen-ul-Haq hit the woodwork.

Nurul Hasan scored 13 off 8 before slicing one to third-man off Fareed.

Mosaddek Hossain provided some resistance for Bangladesh, which helped them reach 98 for 9 in 20 overs after they were struggling at 47 for seven.

Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (27 off 19) and Ibrahim Zadran (46 off 39) were outstanding during a 43-run stand before Taskin Ahmed caught Hazrat Zazai for 15 in the fourth over, at deep square leg.

In the 14th over, Taskin struck again to remove Darwish Rasooli, and in the next over, Ibrahim was picked up by Hasan Mahmud, putting Afghanistan in a bit of a bind.

Afghanistan reached 118 for five before losing Najibullah Zadran to Hasan in the 17th over.

However, Afghanistan was able to reach 160 for 7 thanks in large part to Mohammad Nabi's 17-ball 41, which came in the final three overs.

For Bangladesh, Mahmud was the most successful with 2 for 24, while Shakib remained the most expensive, allowing 46 runs in his four overs while only claiming two.