Desperate for win, Tigers set to 'tame' Afghans in 1st ODI

In a bid to make a giant leap towards the 2023 World Cup in India, Bangladesh seek a winning start against Afghanistan in three –match series as they take on the visitors in the first ODI on Wednesday at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

The match starts at 11 am and will be aired live on Gazi TV and T Sports Channel.

Bangladesh needed those 30 points from three matches badly given that they would next visit South Africa for a three-match ODI. And no doubt winning at least a match in South Africa would be an extremely tough task for them.

Bangladesh had played 12 matches in four series so far in ICC ODI Super League and won eight matches.

The Tigers played two series away against Zimbabwe and New Zealand. While they whitewashed Zimbabwe in a three-match series, they were being swept in New Zealand. At home, they whitewashed the West Indies and beat Sri Lanka by 2-1.

The Tigers are currently placed at second position in ICC ODI Super League with 80 points, largely due to the fact that the big teams are yet to play a good amount of matches. In this context, 30 points from the Afghanistan series would keep Bangladesh at a good stead. Even a loss of 10 points or a match means they would be on the backfoot.

But the task won’t be easier for them even though Bangladesh are always a tough side in ODI cricket at least at home.

In the head to head battle between the two sides, Bangladesh are ahead with 5-3 results in eight matches.

Bangladesh also won the latest two matches—by 3 runs in Asia Cup in 2018 and 62 runs in the 2019 World Cup but every time they played against Afghans, they appeared to be in huge pressure as a defeat against the Asian rivals generally invites harsh criticism from fans and pundits.

Afghanistan are still unbeaten in ICC ODI Super League, winning all six matches but they played against low ranked Ireland and Netherlands. They are in the sixth position in the point table but they know a series win against Bangladesh will keep them in good position.

“We want to start with a winning note, which is our target. We are not thinking out all three matches as we always do, we want to progress match by match,” Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal said on Tuesday.

Considering the magnitude of the series, Afghanistan reached Bangladesh on February 12 as they wanted to practice at least one week to get acclimatized with the condition. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) approved their plea and gave them an opportunity to set up a practice camp in Sylhet ahead of the series. The spread of Covid-19 at their camp however prevented them from practicing one week but they got three days for practice.

Moreover some of the Afghan players played in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which also gave them some advantage.

However Bangladesh knew their success would largely depend on how they could deal with Afghans spin threat—particularly from Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Most of the Bangladeshi players couldn’t counter Mujeeb properly in BPL where he looked almost unplayable. On the other hand, Rashid Khan is always unplayable for Bangladesh regardless of the home or away condition.

“We know they have world class spinners but we are upbeat to bring up our A game. They have three spinners who would bowl 30 overs but our plan is to play well in full 50 overs,” Tamim remarked.

The Chattogram pitch may assist Bangladesh in this case as it generally favours the pacers unlike Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, which is favourable for spinners.

Apart from Afghan spinners, what may play against them is their rust in this format as Bangladesh last played an ODI in July last year during a three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.

“Everyone is professional here so they know how to overcome the rust. But what excited me is that we are getting our full strength squad for the first time after I get the captaincy,” Tamim added.

Squad:

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal (Captain), Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mahmudul Hasan Joy

Afghanistan: Hasmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmat Shah (vice-captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Fareed Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Gulbadin Naib, Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Riaz Hassan, Shahidullah, Yamin Ahmadzai