Afghanistan vs Bangladesh, 3rd ODI Match Preview, Prediction and Live Streaming

The series stands at 1-1, and both teams have rightly earned their victories. Afghanistan exploited their spin resources in the first game and choreographed a collapse so incredible that it wrapped up the game within a matter of a few overs after the disaster struck. Bangladesh bested the odds and kept the series alive by bagging the second game. By doing so, they ended their seven-match losing streak.

The visitors have hardly had a day without drama in the past few months. The off-field issues have been abundant in Bangladesh cricket. The newest of them and perhaps the least problematic was a delay in visa for two of their players, including Nahid Rana and Nasum Ahmed. But little did they know, that resolving Nasum Ahmed’s visa issues would also straighten out the side’s issues related to the absence of a clutch all-rounder. After Shakib Al-Hasan’s enforced getaway, Ahmed’s first game back showed how much Bangladesh missed having a reliable all-rounder. He grabbed three scalps and put a quick cameo on the board, to help Bangladesh post a competitive total on an unruly surface.

Team Overview:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who thrashed South Africa all around the park at the same venue a couple of months ago, has yet to make a statement with his bat in this series. Sharjah is one of his favorite venues to churn runs at and Afghanistan need the quick starts provided by him desperately. In addition to him, Azmatullah Omarzai’s blade has also been silent since the games against Proteas. Omarzai has yet to get off the mark, having scored two back-to-back ducks. Barring one wicket that Azmatullah took in the last game, Afghanistan pacers have largely been unsuccessful.

This is in stark contrast to how their Bangladesh counterparts have fared. They shared the job of running through the Afghanistan team equally with the spinners in the second game and did this job entirely on their own in the first. Najmul Hossain Shanto played a seemingly serene knock but this was his coping mechanism to avoid the horrible collapse his team had to endure in the previous game. In a way, it helped Bangladesh loads. By the time Nangeyalia Kharote and Co. came back to disrupt the run flow and orchestrated a mini-collapse, Bangladesh had set the stage, making the most of which the late-order batters took the score past 250.

Head-to-Head Matches:

Afghanistan have played 18 ODI games against Bangladesh. In these 18 games, Bangladesh were able to stand out in 11, while Afghanistan won the remaining seven.

Weather and Pitch Report:

Sharjah was trickier than usual in the second game. 250 looked far from a chaseable target. The ball gripped more, especially in the first innings, and the same can be expected in the third ODI. While the pacers can hope to get some seam movement early on, the dominance will be shifted entirely to the spinners as the ball ages. It’s going to be sunny and humid in Sharjah, with almost negligible chances of rain.

Prediction:

Both teams have refused to succumb without a fight in the series so far and with the series leveled, both will be pumped to get over the line for a series win. Bangladesh look more likely to do that, though they will have to tackle Afghanistan’s unwavering resistance in order to do so.