The ODI series between Afghanistan and Bangladesh continues on Saturday when the two sides meet for the second time of a scheduled three outings in Sharjah where the former have the chance to take the spoils.
Afghanistan won the opening match and they will win the series if they come out on top here. Bangladesh will be looking to build some momentum to take to the Champions Trophy with them and will be out to force a decider here.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan are very much the improving nation in 50 over cricket and if they can keep their curve going on an upward journey then they will arrive in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy as genuine threats to come away with their first senior global silverware. Their win in the first ODI might not have been the best they have had in the last 12 months in terms of dominant performances but it was a win and six weeks or so off the back of a series win over South Africa, it is clear that Afghanistan are making progress.
That is especially the case when you consider how well Afghanistan did in the T20 World Cup where we are starting to see that as well as batters who can build a 50 over innings, they now have players who can ignite the innings at the start and propel it at the end which all 50 over teams have the ability to do. In dry conditions Afghanistan have a bowling attack which can match most around the world so they need to be taken seriously. If they improve from that first effort they have every chance of wrapping up the series here.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh have qualified for the Champions Trophy in the early part of 2025 but aren’t exactly flowing their way to the tournament. They will have been looking at this series to build some momentum to take to Pakistan with them but they didn’t get off to the best start and will be looking for much better here. This is one of just five ODIs that Bangladesh have left in 2024 so you would think they will want to be a whole lot better here.
To be fair to the Bangladesh bowlers, they largely did their job in the opening game. They restricted a decent Afghanistan batting unit to just 235 and while that wasn’t ever going to be a walk in the park of a run chase, they would have expected to make a much better assault on it than they did. They did get themselves into position to win the game when they made it to 120-2 just after the halfway point but a severe collapse put paid to any chances they had so they know where they need to improve here.
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Team News
You would imagine Afghanistan would look to get the series won before they embark on wholesale changes. Mohammad Nabi left the field in the opening game but he returned later in the innings so he is expected to feature here.
Bangladesh will be forced into a change for this match because Mushfiqur Rahim has been ruled out of the remainder of the series after fracturing his finger. Jaker Ali is the man who is expected to take the gloves for this game.
Betting
Mohammad Nabi was the saviour for Afghanistan in the opening game and I see no reason why he won’t have a big impact on this match either. We should expect the wickets to tire and turn more and more the longer this series goes on with all three matches here in Sharjah and all within a relatively short turnaround. When you consider that Nabi has a decent record on this ground at the best of times there is many reasons to expect him to have a big game.
His performance line here is 36.5 and the over looks to have every chance here. He only bowled 4.2 overs in the opening game of the series but took a wicket. If he has to bowl a full complement of overs he could easily get a second wicket which would be enough to cover here. He also scored 84 with the bat so he had this total covered with plenty in hand. In 24 innings on this ground he has covered 36.5 points on nine occasions and was out in the 30s before 37 twice more. He has also taken two or more wickets in 14 of the 28 bowling innings he has had on this ground so this line looks well within his range.
Tips
Back M.Nabi’s Performance – Over 36.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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