AFG vs BAN 2025/26, AFG vs BAN 2nd ODI Match Preview – Afghanistan eye another ODI series win over Bangladesh
Big picture: Series win beckons Afghanistan
Azmatullah Omarzai was the all-round star in the game, taking three wickets and scoring an important 40 in the chase. His ODI stocks have been on the rise for the last few years. Rashid Khan also had a strong outing, picking up 3 for 38 and going past 200 ODI wickets.Afghanistan’s win this week also highlighted their other strengths. Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a mature knock under pressure, curbing his natural flair for the sake of the team’s stability. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi continued as the background guys, keeping the batting line-up in shape in tricky chases. Left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote was another unsung hero, conceding just 31 runs in his full quota, taking Saif Hassan’s wicket. It is these percentage performers that keep the Afghanistan team going in ODIs.
That isn’t the case for Bangladesh, who are having a hard time finding any consistent performers in this format. They are now lurching from one defeat to another in ODIs, having won just two games in the last 12 months. It was evident on Wednesday why they are no longer an ODI force. Bangladesh threw away a good start with soft dismissals and despite a recovery through a 101-run fourth-wicket stand, the rest of the batters succumbed to Rashid’s accuracy. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali and Nurul Hasan were all lbw to Rashid, which might have kept the head coach Phil Simmons busy in the lead-up to Saturday’s match.
Bangladesh also need to figure out the Abu Dhabi conditions better. Afghanistan picking four spinners may have a lot to do with their confidence in the likes of Kharote and AM Ghazanfar, but Bangladesh missed out on playing Rishad Hossain. Bangladesh won the T20I leg of the tour 3-0. They’ll need some of that form seeping into the one-day leg if they are to keep the series alive.
Afghanistan: WWLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: LLWLL
In the spotlight: Rahmat Shah and Najmul Hossain Shanto
Rahmat Shah goes undetected in the Afghanistan line-up of star allrounders and mystery spinners. But he leads the engine room – the middle-order – from where he has scripted many match-winning efforts. The latest was against Bangladesh, when he scored an invaluable half-century, in a 78-run third wicket stand with Gurbaz. It provided the foundation for Omarzai to thrive later on. Rahmat is the accumulator, and without him in the background, the Rashids, the Nabis and the Omarzais wouldn’t be able to grab the limelight.
It has been a quiet few months for Najmul Hossain Shanto. Captain of Bangladesh in all three formats even last year, Shanto has taken a step back to work on his batting. Except that too hasn’t worked out well, after making just 37 runs in Bangladesh’s last ODI series against Sri Lanka. He came into this Afghanistan series with a single fifty in four matches for Rajshahi in the domestic T20 tournament. The format is different but Bangladesh need more from their No. 3 batter.
Team news: Bangladesh need extra spinner
Afghanistan are likely to be unchanged for the second ODI.
Afghanistan (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Sediqullah Atal, 4 Rahmat Shah, 5 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 AM Ghazanfar, 10 Nangeyalia Kharote, 11 Bashir Ahmad
Bangladesh could bring in Rishad to bolster their spin attack.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Mehidy Hasan Miraz (capt), 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Tanzim Hasan Sakib, 9 Rishad Hossain, 10 Tanvir Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
Pitch and conditions: Another slow pitch awaits
Abu Dhabi will continue to dish out slow pitches, so it is up to the batters to find ways to increase their scoring rates. The weather will be hot throughout the evening.
Stats and trivia: Bangladesh struggling
