Bangladesh Faces The Spin Blow In The Third ODI Against Afghanistan

Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi surprised Bangladesh in the third and final ODI of the series. Bangladesh is all out at 192 runs.

Afghanistan is no ordinary team. It was always on cards that they will show some resistance and will overturn the assumed match course. 

After facing heavy defeats in the first and second ODIs, finally, Afghanistan has shown some positive consistency in cricket. 

It appears that they worked their weaknesses that were exploited in the both matches by Bangladesh. They have restricted Bangladesh under an achievable target of 193 runs.

If they bat sensibly then they will surely strike down this target. All they need is to lead by experience.

Until the first 20 overs, Bangladesh was dominant in the game. They were 100 for 1 in the 20th over. A sudden collapse it looks, from 100 for 1 to 192 all out. 

Credit goes to Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi for leading the team with their experience. Currently, both players are the most experienced in the Afghanistan team.

Except for Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan, no other player made any significant contribution to the team score. Liton Das scored 85 runs before losing his wicket to Mohammad Nabi.

Rashid and Nabi bowled on tight lines, restricting the batsmen’s ability to score runs. Batsmen were forced to manufacture shots for runs and in the middle overs, generating some uncertainty among the Bangladeshi batters. They attempted to play out Rashid and throw him off his lines with some aggressive shots.

Also, Afghanistan was proactive in the field work. In the last match, they missed crucial chances in the field and allowed Bangladesh to score a big total.

In today’s match, there were three run-out chances and all of them were utilised by Afghanistan’s fielders. All of the last three wickets came in the form of a run-out. 

Rashid Khan took 3 wickets and conceded only 37 runs. Nabi, on a similar note, conceded only 29 runs and bagged 2 key wickets.

For now, Afghanistan has significant control over the game. Bangladesh will need to take 2 to 3 wickets in the first 10 overs to equalise the game control.