It may sound a bit cliché if one says Mashrafe Bin Mortaza wears his heart on his sleeves. The way the Bangladesh skipper gives his all when wearing the red and green jersey, coming back time and again from career-threatening injuries, is only testament to his character. So it was hardly a surprise when the Narail Express turned the match decisively in Bangladesh's favour with two wickets in his first two overs.

The Bangladesh skipper arrived at the post-match press conference at Manuka Oval last night as if he was walking out of a routine net session.

“I'm not overexcited at all. We cannot be overzealous by only winning this match,” exclaimed the 31-year-old pacer. “It's true that everyone had doubts and we might have had some too which is why we feel good about the win. We made a good start and I hope we will be consistent and everything will go according to plan.”

A great opening spell of two for ten in six overs virtually took life out of Afghanistan's tall chase of 268. But the Bangladesh skipper felt his colleagues played as big a part in minimizing Afghanistan's chances as he did.

“We haven't played much on this type of wicket. So it was important for us to pick the right length, and we have some good quicks like Rubel and Taskin who can bowl at 140 kph. It was always going to affect (the opposition) if they bowled with that pace in the right areas. They have done it today and hopefully they'll do the same in the rest of the matches,” hoped Mashrafe.

The Bangladesh skipper also explained the line of thinking behind picking eight batsmen in the eleven.

“In the first practice match, we couldn't score a lot. So just wanted to make sure that we had extra batsman who could bowl,” explained Mashrafe, who also played a handy knock of 14 off just eight deliveries to make sure the Tigers posted an imposing total of 267.

The Bangladesh skipper said his side felt confident about winning this pressure-match once they inspected the pitch.

“We obviously haven't played much on this sort of wicket, but it suited us quite well. Once we looked at the wicket, we thought if we could have a good start, we could win this match,” explained Mashrafe.

Tigers Stats

• The 114-run stand for the fifth wicket between Shakib and Mushfiqur is the highest Bangladeshi partnership in a World Cup.
• The 105-run win is Bangladesh's largest World Cup victory in terms of runs.
• Mushfiqur Rahim's 71 is the third highest World Cup score by a Bangladeshi.
• This was Bangladesh's ninth World Cup win.
• 267 is Bangladesh's highest first innings score in a World Cup.
• Shakib Al Hasan became the first Bangladeshi to score more than 4000 ODI runs yesterday.

Today’s Match

Zimbabwe v UAE
Time: 4:00am
Venue: Nelson
FRIDAY'S MATCH

New Zealand v England
Time: 7:00am
Venue: Wellington