Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo showered youngsters Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan with praise after their match-winning partnership against Afghanistan in Wednesday’s first ODI in Chittagong.

Afif and Mehidy’s unbroken stand of 174 was the second-best seventh-wicket partnership in ODI history, behind only England’s Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid’s 177 against New Zealand at Birmingham in 2015.

It rescued the hosts from a precarious 45-6 to take them to 219-6 and victory by four wickets with seven balls to spare.

Afif (22) was unbeaten on 93 alongside Mehidy, two years his senior and 81 not out.

They accumulated 79.45% of Bangladesh’s total runs – the highest combined contribution by batsmen below the No 6 position in an ODI innings by any team.

As Mehidy was walking out to bat, Domingo told the team’s computer analyst they would put on 150, he said in Chittagong.

“There’s a lot of confidence in Miraz’s [Mehidy] batting at the moment,” he said. “He has a Test hundred. He batted well in New Zealand and in the BPL. I know it sounds hard to believe, I thought we could still do it.

“I know how good Afif is,” he added. “I have seen him do it before in T20s. I think he is a fantastic player.

“He will be one of Bangladesh’s best white-ball players. It was really pleasing to see them bat in that particular way yesterday. I was very proud of that partnership.”

The second match of the series will be held at the same ground on Friday.

Despite the win, Domingo said Bangladesh still have a lot of room for improvement.

“We have to play better cricket tomorrow than we did yesterday,” he said. “We bowled 13 wides yesterday. We dropped a catch. We were 45-6. We need a massive improvement in yesterday’s performance in every department. We had one fantastic partnership.”

© Agence France-Presse