Bangladesh out to level series against Afghanistan

Despite a horrible performance in the first match, Bangladesh hope to turn things around and level the three-match ODI series when they take on Afghanistan in the second game on Saturday at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The match starts at 4:00 pm.

A batting meltdown, which saw them losing the last eight wickets for just 23 runs, caused Bangladesh's 92-run defeat in the first match. The batting debacle was not new to Bangladesh of late. But it has been chronic and even a diehard fan hardly believes that Bangladesh could bounce back from this stage now.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the vital cog of Bangladesh team, however, didn't ponder so, claiming that the defeat was not a mental breakdown.

"One bad game wouldn't make us a bad team overnight," Miraz told the reporters today at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. "We have won so many matches against Afghanistan, especially in the ODI format. This format is our strong zone. We have beaten them in the World Cup, and beaten them in bilateral series."

What would haunt Bangladesh was that they lost the match from an absolute winning position with the weakest link top order coming with all guns blazing.

Despite losing opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim cheaply, Bangladesh reached 120-2, chasing the target of 236. But then tasted a collapse, sparked by teenager off-spinner Mohammad Ghazanfar to suffer a defeat eventually.

"We have won T20 matches against them on our home soil. Beforehand, we won a series against them," Miraz remarked. "So a defeat in the first match doesn't mean that everything has been lost and we can't bounce back. Hopefully we'll come back strongly."

Miraz blamed the behaviour of the pitch for their crushing loss to Afghanistan in the first match.

"The pitch wasn't what we expected. But at the same time, it is imperative to take responsibility. As batters, we admit that we can't take the onus," he added.

Along with the defeat, Bangladesh also lost their important member Mushfiqur Rahim with finger injury. The veteran wicket-keeper batter who was ruled out of the remaining two ODIs, though, was not in top form, his presence added extra experience, especially when there was no Shakib Al Hasan or Tamim Iqbal.

Despite losing the first game, Bangladesh still had the edge over Afghanistan, winning 10 and losing seven in 17 meetings.

The Tigers, as it was adorably called, had a perfect record against Afghanistan in bilateral ODI series until July last year, when they lost to the Afghans 2-1 in Chattogram.

The series defeat in fact initiated a lean period for Bangladesh in what is widely accepted as their strongest format.

Pressure will be on Bangladesh in the second match as they knew that a defeat would hand them a second straight series defeat against the Afghans.

Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed and fast bowler Nahid Rana had already joined the side after a visa complication prevented them from coming here with other players.

Bangladesh however didn't name the replacement of Mushfiqur Rahim. While a change in his place is natural, Bangladesh could ponder dropping one or two players still, going into the second game that now turned out to be a 'do or die' game.

Bangladesh: Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Zakir Hasan, Nazmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Mahmudullah Riyad, Touhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hassan Miraz (Vice Captain), Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam and Nahid Rana.

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (Captain), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.