Having already sealed the three-match ODI series by going 2-0 up, Afghanistan will look to whitewash Bangladesh in their own den at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Tuesday.
The series is an important test for both teams ahead of the all-important ICC World Cup scheduled to take place in India later this year. Afghanistan and Bangladesh qualified already without going through the need for the qualifiers because of their superior ODI rankings.
In both matches, Afghanistan proved to be too hot to handle against Bangladesh. Taskin Ahmed’s absence is hurting Bangladesh as the Afghan batters are finding it too easy to score runs. Their batting hasn’t been good either as Afghanistan have taken 19 wickets against them in the previous two matches.
The ODI leg of the series will be followed by a two-match T20I series where both sides will face each other.
Team News
Bangladesh’s Ebadot Hossain twisted his left knee in his run-up in the last match against Afghanistan. Shoriful Islam is likely to take his place in the starting lineup.
Afghanistan entered the series with their full-strength squad and hit their top gear. Rahmat Shah has faltered with the bat at the No.3 position. Riaz Hassan can take his place. Izharulhaq Naveed is likely to take the place of Rashid Khan in the leg-spin department to give chances to fresh faces.
Key Players
Never count out Bangladesh if it has Shakib Al Hasan on their side
Shakib Al Hasan: Bangladesh have looked off color throughout the tournament but if there is one person, who can change the fortunes of the home side then it is Shakib Al Hasan. The all-rounder took the prized wicket of Gurbaz in the first ODI and followed it with Rashid Khan’s wicket.
Shakib was the only bowler to keep his economy at 5 as the other bowlers leaked runs for fun. With the bat, he was the third and second-highest run-scorer in the first and second ODI respectively for Bangladesh.
Fazalhaq Farooqi: Fazalhaq Farooqi has been breathing fire for Afghanistan this series with the new ball. In the first match, he returned with impressive figures of 3-24 from only 8.4 overs. He took the prized wicket of Towhid Hridoy in that match as well as the dangerous-looking Tamim Iqbal at the start.
Keeping things tight with 3-22 from 7.2 overs, Fazalhaq cleaned up both the openers Mohammad Naim and Litton Das this time in the second ODI. He also took the wicket of Mushfiqur to end all the hopes of Bangladesh.
Head to Head record
The two teams have squared off against each other a total of 12 times in the past in the ODIs. Bangladesh holds the advantage with 7 wins to their name. Afghanistan have 5 victories to their name, however, they came out on top in the last 2 matches.
In the first ODI of the series, rain shortened the match to a 43 overs per side game. Bangladesh stumbled to 169-9 with Towhid Hridoy’s half-century saving some grace. Afghanistan scored 83-2 at 21.4 overs before rain re-introduced itself. The visitors were already ahead by 17 runs in DLS and won the tie.
In the second ODI of the series, Rahmanullah Grubaz and Ibrahim Zadran stitched a 256-run opening wicket partnership – the highest ever for Afghanistan – before the former got out at 145. Zadran departed immediately after scoring his century as Bangladesh made a late comeback to restrict them to only 331 runs on a batting-friendly pitch.
Afghanistan showed no mercy to the Bangladeshi batters and the run rate pressure forced them to commit a lot of mistakes. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s three-wicket hauls put Bangladesh in the backseat. Mushfiqur Rahim’s 69 off 85 went in vain as he lacked any sort of support from the other end. In the end, Bangladesh were all out for 189.
Predicted Playing XIs
Bangladesh: Mohammad Naim, Litton Das ©, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Hashmatullah Shahidi ©, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Izharulhaq Naveed, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mohammed Saleem
Prediction
Afghanistan have shown that they cannot be messed against in the series. Even with the home advantage, Bangladesh are no match to the Afghanistan side as they have been outclassed both with the bat and the ball. We predict Afghanistan to win again.