Bangladesh opt to bowl first against Afghanistan in 2nd ODI

Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl first against Afghanistan in their second match of the three-match ODI series at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

The second game in fact turned out to be ‘do or die’ match for Bangladesh after they lost the first ODI by 17 runs through DLS method. A defeat means Bangladesh will loss the series with a match to go.

A series defeat at the hands of Afghanistan will be a big blow for the Tigers, considering their invincible record at home and the upcoming World Cup. Since 2015, Bangladesh lost only two series at home-both times at the hands of World Champions England.

Bangladesh’s batting debacle was the chief reason behind their defeat in the first game. Before the rain reduced the game to 43 overs, they were restricted to 169-9 and most of the batters, including Tamim Iqbal played wretched shots to dig their own graveyards. Tamim scored just 13 in his last International game.

Afghanistan which was trounced by a record 546-run in the one-off Test, played a calculative cricket, keeping the rain in mind. Concentrating on not losing too many wickets, they reached 83-2 in 21.4 overs before rain again arrived to spoil the match. But by then, they were 17 runs ahead on DLS method.