Afghanistan vs Bangladesh 2nd ODI: Preview and Predictions

Bangladesh looking to keep series alive

After a disappointing opening game performance by the visitors, Bangladesh will be looking to bounce back in the second ODI as they face Afghanistan in Sharjah.

Ahead of the second ODI, here’s our match preview and predictions.

Afghanistan vs Bangladesh 2nd ODI | 15:30 IST, November 9

After electing to bat on a slow Sharjah wicket in the opening game, Mustafizur Rahman put the hosts in a spot of both as they were reeling at 71/5 before Hasmatullah Shahidi and Mohammad Nabi put on a 104-run partnership to rescue the innings. Nabi missed out on a well-deserved century while their skipper, Shahidi’s half-century along with some late runs from the young Nangeyalia Kharote saw Afghanistan put up a respectable 235. With the ball, it was all AM Ghazanfar, as he ran through the Bangladeshi innings and barring some starts at the top of the order, it was a complete collapse as the visitors went from 120-2 to lose their last 8 wickets for 23 runs. 

For Bangladesh, the positives they would take is that, both their strike bowlers, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman were amongst the wickets, but Bangladesh know they had the game in their hands when they got Afghanistan to 71/5 but failed to close out the innings which saw them get to 235. With the bat, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraz all got starts and it looked like Bangladesh were cruising to a comfortable win at 120-2 but a complete collapse including the likes of veterans such as Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah is something that Shanto will expect his batters to rectify. Shanto will be counting on his senior batters to step up and capitalise on starts to get the big scores on slow pitches.

Playing once again in Sharjah, it will be another slow strip which wouldn’t see a lot of runs but should help the slow bowlers mainly. Count on the hosts to build on their momentum and close out the series.

Fantasy XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Soumya Sarkar, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Nabi, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mustafizur Rahman, AM Ghazanfar

Venue: Sharjah

Winners Prediction: Afghanistan