Aiden Markram recorded the fastest hundred in just 49 balls as South Africa posted the highest World Cup total of 428-5 against Sri Lanka in New Delhi.
After being bowled out for 156 runs, the off-spinner took 3-25.
Next, Mehidy made 57 after getting dropped twice, and Nojmul Hossain Shanto finished on 59 not out to help Bangladesh win with more than 15 overs to spare.
Another World Cup injury that Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan gave Afghanistan was a left-arm spinner that took 3-30 and got wickets with his bowling changes.
After Shakib put Afghanistan to bat, they were in a pretty good position at 47-1 and 112-2, but they lost their last eight wickets for 44 runs.
For comparison, Shakib took 5-29 in the corresponding World Cup match four years ago as Bangladesh beat India by 62 runs. On Saturday, he made the first breakthrough when he caught Ibrahim Zadran on the sweep.
Several Afghanistan batsmen lost their wickets, with only opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (47) putting up much of a fight.
While playing a one-day international against Bangladesh in July, Gurbaz scored 145 runs. However, he fell when he holed out off paceman Mustafizur Rahman to Tanzid Hasan in the covers. He seemed angry that the other team wasn’t helping him.
An example of Afghanistan’s situation was when tailender Mujeeb Ur Rahman went to bat without an athletic protector or box.
Bangladesh had an early setback in their chase.
Najibullah Zadran ran out Tanzid Hasan, and the Tigers were already 27-2 when Liton Das transferred the ball to paceman Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Although Afghanistan had to take every chance to defend such a low score, Najibullah dropped Mehidy on 12 when he dropped a legal catch at backward point.
There was another missed chance for Mehidy on 23 when he lifted Naveen-ul-Haq, but Mujeeb dropped a one-handed catch at deep third man when he could have gone for the ball with both hands.
Mehidy made up for those mistakes with a fifty off of 58 balls, which included four foursomes.
A long review followed by a close lbw appeal from Mujeeb, but he was brilliantly caught one-handed by a leaping Rahmat Shah at mid-off, ending a third-wicket partnership of 97.
Bangladesh was close to winning, though.
After hitting Mujeeb for six, Najmul made fifty off of 80 balls.
After a fumble at mid-off, he finished the game with two fours in a row. This continued his great performance in 2023, where he is averaging almost 55 in ODIs.
“It was a perfect day for us with the bat. We had to work hard up front up against the swinging ball and then well into the middle overs,” said Van der Dussen.
“We have a blueprint to set it up for the guys in the middle order. Aiden Markram when he plays like that is incredible to watch.”
Bowlers Matheesha Pathirana (1-95 runs) and Kasun Rajitha (1-90 runs) gave up more than 180 runs in 20 overs, which was bad news for Sri Lanka.
Photo by Deepak Malik/Shutterstock
