Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, 1st ODI, Preview and Predictions: Teams seek positive start to historic series

Bangladesh and Afghanistan look to secure a win early on as they lock horns in the first One-Day International (ODI) of the series at the Shere Bangla Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka. This is the first time Afghanistan are visiting Bangladesh for a full series. The teams will play three ODIs after which Bangladesh will head to their next home series with England. The series is a crucial one for Afghanistan as a victory will help hand them an overseas win against one of the Test playing nations. Afghanistan does not get to play full series with Test playing nations much and the team will definitely look to give in their best.

Bangladesh, who caught the eyes of many with their performance lately, were unfortunate not to play international cricket since the ICC World T20 2016. The team did well in Asia Cup before the World T20 tournament. Their performance has been exceptional in the limited-overs format at home. The team had a turnaround since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, remaining nearly unbeatable at home conditions. They defeated teams like South Africa, Pakistan and India at home apart from their regular visitors Zimbabwe. The form in itself is an achievement for the team to grow more. However, what they lacked to continue the upward curve of their growth was more cricket.

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Bangladesh will miss their current spearhead bowler Mustafizur Rahman due to injury. However, the team, especially the bowling, does not look to be a very weak one. The pace attack will be led by the skipper Mashrafe Mortaza himself. Mortaza has a lot of experience with him apart from his skills which make him a tough competitor against the heavy-weight Afghan batting. Mortaza is also a potent lower-order batsman which helps the team add the last moment runs to the innings. However, one thing that Mortaza is lacking at present is consistency with both runs and wickets. The leader needs to lead by example and to inspire his team to do good, he needs to perform well. READ: Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny cleared to bowl in international cricket

Bangladesh’s top-order is on paper very strong but the batsmen need to be consistent and that is the key to success. Tamim Iqbal is one name who has served the team as an opener without letting them down. Tamim’s performance will decide if the pillar of the Bangladesh innings will be strong or not. His last ODI batting performance was a powerful 73 at the same venue, which powered the team to a 61-run victory against a visiting Zimbabwe team.

Along with Tamim to open, Bangladesh have two options in Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar. Both are potent batsmen while the only thing that is needed is consistency. Though both the batsmen have a couple of half-centuries each in their previous ODI matches, the two batsmen have failed to score consistently and that is something very crucial for the opening slot.

At number three, Bangladesh have a gifted Sabbir Rahman. Sabbir, who started his career as an off-spinner, developed prominent traits of a top-order batsman and was promoted up the order at the right time. The decision was a did miracles to the Bangladesh batting and the player was the lone warrior for the team in both Asia Cup and WT20 campaigns. READ: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, 1st ODI: Likely XI for hosts

Mosaddek Hossain will be the player to look out for in the series. The player has impressed everyone in the domestic level with his batting and proved why he has been picked in the warm-up match against Afghanistan.

Bangladesh bowling will have the services of Rubel Hossain after a long time. Rubel had lost his spot to a relatively more effective Mustafizur but this series will be his chance to regain his spot in the squad with remarkable performances. Bangladesh is doing a very good job as they are keeping the search on for good players. The squad has Shafiul Islam in it. Shafiul has pulled off some brilliant spells earlier in domestic circuit. The player, who used to be a regular member in the squad, is all set to make a comeback. With all-rounders like Mahmudullah and Nasir Hossain, the middle-order batting and spin bowling is strengthen while the team is expected to play Taijul Islam as their main spinner.

Talking about Afghanistan now, the team looks to enjoy many advantages despite the overseas conditions. Something that will help the team the most is their strong spin bowling attack which is expected to be favoured at Dhaka. They also have Dawlat Zadran as their leading pacer, who is very accurate with his line and pitching besides his pace. Mirwais Ashraf playing along Dawlat form the perfect pace-squad to compliment the spinning attack that consists names like Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. The two-pacers-two-spinners formula has worked for the team in several occasions and is likely to help them this time as well.

One thing that the world has seen is Afghanistan batting’s prowess. The worst that Bangladesh would want is to see opener Mohammad Shahzad play for 10 overs as that will ensure Afghanistan a massive total. Shahzad probably has the strongest pair of hand in the team and can stand and deliver. Lose deliveries will not be spared and initial powerplay can totally go in favour of the visitors. Bangladesh bowlers need to be disciplined from the very start and there is very less room for experimenting in front of Shahzad. Nawroz Mangal is likely to make a comeback to the national side after a long break and will compliment Shahzad’s batting with his calm-headed playing style. Rahmat Shah, the new find of the team is one of the most technical batsmen in the side and has impressive finishing of shots that make him one of the innings builders. Another has to be their skipper Asghar Stanikzai who has single-handedly saved the team from batting disasters. The middle-order has Samiullah Shenwari and Najibullah Zadran who take the batting further. Mohammad Nabi, apart from being the most trusted when scalping wickets is considered, can play crucial knocks down the order. The number of all-rounders present in the side also makes Afghanistan the favourites in terms of strength.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Tamim Iqbal

Afghanistan: Asghar Stanikzai (c), Amir Hamza, Dawlat Zadran, Fareed Ahmad, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ihsanullah, Karim Janat, Mirwais Ashraf, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Najibullah Zadran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Nawroz Mangal, Rahmat Shah, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shenwari, Shabir Noori

Time:

14:00 IST | 08:30 GMT | 14:30 local

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)