Bangladesh began their campaign in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan with a five-wicket defeat. On Saturday at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh face a must-win encounter in the second ODI. After losing the toss, Mehedi Hasan Miraz and his teammates will field first. Another loss would mean Bangladesh suffers their third consecutive ODI series defeat.
For this series-saving match, Bangladesh have made two changes to the playing XI. Mustafizur Rahman and Rishad Hossain return, while Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud have been dropped. Afghanistan, on the other hand, have come in with an unchanged XI.
This year, Bangladesh’s record in the ODI format has been far from encouraging. They have won only one of their last 11 matches, during the Sri Lanka tour earlier this year. That lone win helped Bangladesh avoid a whitewash. Prior to that, they failed to win a single match in a three-match series against the West Indies. This is despite Bangladesh having entered the 2023 World Cup in third place in the ODI Super League standings.
Bangladesh XI: Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Saif Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mehedi Hasan Miraz (c), Zaker Ali, Nurul Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Tanvir Islam, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Bashir Ahmad.
