Bangladesh take on Afghanistan to level series today

Despite a horrible performance in the first match, Bangladesh hope to turn the things around and level the three-match ODI series when they take on Afghanistan in the second game today (Saturday) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

The match will kick off at 4 PM (Bangladesh Time).

The Afghans made a dream start to their campaign in the series after winning the series opener on Wednesday (November 6) by a huge margin of 92 runs.

Despite losing the first game, Bangladesh still had the edge over Afghanistan, winning 10 and losing seven in 17 meetings.

The Tigers had a perfect record against Afghanistan in bilateral ODI series until July last year, when they lost to the Afghans 2-1 in Chattogram.

The series defeat in fact initiated a lean period for Bangladesh in what is widely accepted as their strongest format.

Pressure will be on Bangladesh in the second match as they knew that a defeat would hand them second straight series defeat against the Afghans.

Squads

Bangladesh: Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Zakir Hasan, Nazmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Mahmudullah Riyad, Touhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hassan Miraz (Vice Captain), Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nahid Rana.

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (Captain), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.