Tigers’ chance to win series in 2nd ODI against Afghanistan

With the dramatic four-wicket victory in the first ODI on Wednesday, Bangladesh closed the gap with England in the points table of ICC ODI World Cup Super League and a win in the second ODI will see them take the top spot with 100 points.

Afghanistan gave Bangladesh a run for their money in the first match and in fact, it was their game to lose when they picked up six wickets inside the first 12 overs of Bangladesh's innings. 

The hosts, despite the win, cannot deny the fact that their top six had a horror start to the series and must get back to form soon. Bangladesh put on a controlled bowling effort in the final phase of the innings but they were guilty of straying in line and giving too many extras early on. But the home side will be relieved to see the batting potential of Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Afif Hossain being translated into something substantial. 

Bangladesh's pace trio looking dangerous 

Despite being known as a land of spinners, Bangladesh have been relying heavily on their pacers for a while now. Since 2019, the pacers of Bangladesh have picked up 161 wickets which is two times the number of wickets picked up by spinners. In the first ODI against Afghanistan, Bangladesh pacers - Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed - shared seven wickets among themselves. 

Mustafizur returned three for 35 in the first ODI. He took the new ball, struck immediately and then came back in the slog overs to wipe the tail. Shoriful Islam was probably one of the best bowlers of the day. He was the most economical pacer for Bangladesh in the match despite bowling with the old ball. He got the important wicket of the top-scorer Najibullah Zadran who could've added some more runs had he not been dismissed in the penultimate over.

Taskin lacked discipline in his first spell but Tamim Iqbal used him as a middle-over enforcer and he scalped two set batters - Rahmat Shah and Mohammad Nabi.

Top order must perform better in second ODI

None of the top six batters in the first ODI could score more than 10 as Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi ran a riot. But Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo believes that they will come out all guns blazing in the second ODI and added that it was a difficult thing for the batters to switch from the T20 mode.

"They will be better (in the next match). We have a quality top order. The guys have come out of a month of T20s. They will be disappointed with their performance yesterday, but I expect a much better batting performance tomorrow," said Bangladesh head coach said.

"They just need to play straighter. Their left-arm seamer [Fazalhaq Farooqi] bowled a good spell yesterday. He bowled some good balls - to Liton [Das], [Yasir Ali] Rabbi and Mushfiqur [Rahim]. We have to deal with him better tomorrow," he added.

Afghanistan playing too many dot balls

The visitors played almost 30 overs of dot balls in the first ODI and were about 40 runs short of the par score at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. Had they scored somewhere around 240, it could have been difficult for Bangladesh to chase after an early collapse. Their plan was to keep wickets in hand in the final 10 overs and then open up the shoulders. 

But their plan wasn't successful as they could add only 47 runs in the final phase of the innings. Afghanistan were, at one stage, 102 for four after 28 overs and too many dot balls in the first half of the innings hurt them a lot. 

Afghanistan have to remember that Bangladesh have been a good death bowling side and it will be difficult for them to execute the plan they had in the first ODI. The batters must not miss scoring opportunities and keep on rotating the strike especially in the early part of the innings otherwise they will be in big trouble. 

The match will begin at 11 am local time at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.