Tuesday’s third match of the Asia Cup 2022 will pit Bangladesh against Afghanistan. This contest’s opening game will take place at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. While Bangladesh will open their campaign with this game, Afghanistan has made a record-breaking start to the multi-nation tournament by defeating five-time champions Sri Lanka.
The Afghanistan side is looking like the T20 specialists who have players who have played at leagues all around the world and are well rounded for this format. As far as Bangladesh is concerned, they don’t have the best record. The team is struggling with internal politics with players in and out of the team and it has majorly impacted its position.
The overall head-to-head record indicates Afghanistan has the advantage over Bangladesh. The most recent form also makes the same claim. In the eight T20I matches between Afghanistan and Bangladesh that have been played so far, Afghanistan has won five of them compared to Bangladesh’s three victories. Additionally, Bangladesh is coming off a series defeat to Zimbabwe.
How will the pitch play?
The Sharjah Ground is not a very big venue, and while the surface is normally level and relatively true, it can occasionally play a little slowly when spinners are taken into consideration. The tendency of batsmen enjoying batting here is anticipated to continue in the Asia Cup 2022 as well. The game is highly entertaining due to the smaller boundaries. The dew always a factor in the second innings.
What to expect in middle?
Given that the Asia Cup 2022 is taking place in T20 format and anything can go right in it, we can expect Afghanistan and Bangladesh to perform well. In their most recent T20I series against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh scored an average of 52.66 points on the power play. In the meanwhile, Afghanistan demonstrated their potential by scoring 83 runs in the first six overs of their Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka. Thus, it is expected that both teams will score 45 to 60 runs while on the power play. The average first innings score in Sharjah’s last three T20Is has been 180.33. In the UAE, a new season has just begun.
Players to Watch out for:
The game is a competition between T20 specialists. From Afghanistan, we can expect Rashid Khan, captain Mohammad Nabi, wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mujeeb Ur Rahman to perform for them.
From Bangladesh, all eyes should be on the leader Shakib Al Hasan who is making a comeback as captain, opener Mohammad Naim and bowlers Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
BAN vs AFG Probable Playing XIs
BAN: Mohammad Naim, Sabbir Rahman, Anamul Haque, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain
AFG: Najibullah Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Usman Ghani, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad, Karim Janat.
Afghanistan vs Bangladesh: Who will win?
Both the teams are filled with quality spinners and all eyes will be on Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan. You never know what these experienced players have in their bag any given day. Afghanistan turned all heads with their smashing performance in the first innings and they are likely to build on that. We know Bangladesh are a good side, but for today we know in this contest, Afghanistan is favorite to win. Spinners will decide the result of the match.
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