Published: Feb 17, 2015, 11:45 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 17, 2015, 02:41 PM (IST)
Bangladesh will start their campaign in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 with Pool A game against Afghanistan, who are making their debut in World Cup. The famous Manuka Oval in Canberra will host this day-night Asian derby. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE
Before facing the Afghans, Bangladesh should be little circumspect. These two teams met last year in Asia cup and Afghanistan achieved a famous win against Bangladesh at their own backward at that time. So, Mashrafe Mortaza’s boys should be wary of the complacency factor before facing this giant-killers. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: SCHEDULE & MATCH DETAILS
Bangladesh are coming into the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at the back of defeats in the warm-up games against Pakistan and Ireland. They fought well against Pakistan, but against Ireland, the team had a collective failure. Afghanistan lost to India in their first warm-up game, but they won against United Arab Emirates (UAE). ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Complete Coverage
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Bangladesh need to lift their performance to get the result on their favour. The pressure will be on Bangladesh to prove themselves. Afghanistan, being the debutants, would look to enjoy their outing and play pressure-free cricket. The pitch at the Manuka Oval will be batsman friendly. But bowlers can get something out of it if they bend their backs. It will be interesting to see how pace bowlers like Shapoor Zadran, Rubel Hossain bowl on this wicket.
Both Afghanistan and Bangladesh have decent bowling attacks. Bangladesh will most probably go into the game with three genuine pacers and the medium pace all-rounder Soumya Sarkar, who had a good practice game against Ireland. For Bangladesh, the focus will be on their star player, Shakib-al Hasan once again, who can make a difference on this game because of his experience of playing on these conditions.
Mohammad Nabi’s Afghanistan have a decent bowling attack too. Also, their batsmen have done pretty well in the practice games, which will  give them a lot of confidence before this big game, which is a new chapter in Afghan cricket. As it will be day-night encounter, the toss is going to be very crucial. Both teams would like to bat first. Bangladesh will go into the games as favourites but a spirited Afghanistan side can give them a lot of headaches.
Squads:
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Taijul Islam, and Arafat Sunny
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (c), Nawroz Mangal, Asghar Stanikzai, Samiullah Shenwari, Afsar Zazai (wk), Najibullah Zadran, Nasir Jamal, Mirwais Ashraf, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan, Shapoor Zadran, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Javed Ahmadi, Usman Ghani
Time: 14:30 local |03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST
(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)
