Published: Oct 01, 2016, 12:11 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 01, 2016, 09:01 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of Bangladesh vs Afghanistan 2016-17. This is the third and final One-Day International (ODI) and will decide the fate of the series. Here you will get all the live updates of the match. It is scheduled to be played at the same venue, Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka. Both Bangladesh and Afghanistan have won a match each and a crunch match is expected looking at the potential of the two teams. Bangladesh will have the home side advantage but Afghanistan also look to be accustomed to the situations of the venue now and will not be easy to face at all. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD:Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, third ODI at Mirpur
The first match was a close contest between the two teams. Afghanistan committed a huge mistake, giving away too many runs to the hosts. The bowling did not look uniform. While the spinners did well to maintain a good economy, pacers scalped wickets but the economy was not good at the end, resulting in a big target for the visitors. Dawlat Zadran, the leading pacer of the side picked up 4 wickets but in turn gave away the 73 runs, becoming the most expensive bowler. Afghanistan also had young Naveen ul Haq who made his international debut with the match. A little confused about the area he needed to bowl, Naveen also got hit by the experienced opponents for quite a long time towards the beginning of Bangladesh’s innings. Mirwais Ashraf was the only pacer to maintain an economy below six. The spinners did a very good job bowling in favourable conditions. Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan maintained the balance by bowling economically.
Bangladesh batsmen took full advantage of the inexperienced bowling of the opposition. Tamim Iqbal was the star with the bat, scoring 80 runs while Mahmudullah’s 62 and Shakib Al Hasan’s 48 were also crucial as Bangladesh amassed 265 at the end of their innings. Afghanistan made a good comeback with the bat. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi played exceptionally well, scoring 71 and 72 respectively. They built up the most crucial partnership of the innings but the team failed to follow that performance up, losing it by 7 runs.
Afghanistan learnt the lesson from the first match and focused on a maintained economy in the following game. The Bangladesh batsmen could not repeat their performance in the previous match and Mosaddek Hossain remained the highest scorer for the side with his unbeaten 45. Bangladesh found it hard to even reach 200 but somehow managed to put up 208. Though the target looked small, Afghanistan’s top-order tumbled soon. It was the middle-order who built up the match-winning partnerships. Skipper Asghar Stanikzai scored 57 crucial runs marking his comeback into form while Nabi contributed with 49 runs. Afghanistan registered a 2-wicket victory to even out the series.
Players like Nabi, Rashid will be the key players for Afghanistan looking at the form they have. On the other hand, for Bangladesh, the top-order especially Tamim will be the man to watch out for with the bat. Shakib’s all-round performance did it for Bangladesh in the first match and if he can replicate the performance, Bangladesh will be on the gainer’s side.
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
