Toss Bangladesh chose to bat v Afghanistan
The Match Day team look ahead to Afghanistan and Bangladesh’s Super Four clash, with both sides fighting to stay alive in the Asia Cup
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza decided to bat in their Super Four clash against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi. They handed an ODI debut to left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam, who had impressed in T20Is this year. Bangladesh also picked Imrul Kayes, who was one of the two batsmen flown in as reinforcements over the weekend. Mosaddek Hossain and Rubel Hossain made way for them.
Mosaddek had not added much value to the middle order while Rubel was dropped to strengthen the spin attack.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, continued to alternate between Najibullah Zadran and Samiullah Shenwari, this time the latter getting a chance at No 7.
With both these teams having lost their first Super Four games, the team that loses today’s fixture will find it extremely difficult to qualify for the final.
Afghanistan 1 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 2 Ihsanullah, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Asghar Afghan (capt), 5 Hashmatullah Shahidi, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Samiullah Shenwari, 8 Gulbadin Naib, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Aftab Alam, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Bangladesh 1 Imrul Kayes, 2 Nazmul Hossain Shanto, 3 Liton Das, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mohammad Mithun, 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Nazmul Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman