Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bowl first against Bangladesh in the three-match series opener at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today (July 5).

Bangladesh is hosting Afghanistan in a bilateral ODI series for the third time and during the previous two series, the touring side tested the Tigers’ nerves to a great extent.

In 2016, Afghanistan toured Bangladesh for the first time in a full-fledged ODI series and they conceded a narrow 1-2 series defeat in the three-match series in Mirpur.

During Afghanistan’s last tour here in Bangladesh in 2022, the visitors nearly pulled off a shocking win over the hosts in the series opener but Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s record-breaking seventh wicket stand prevailed Bangladesh from the losing threat.

Bangladesh went on to win the series by the same 2-1 margin but Afghanistan’s never-say-die attitude was surely one of the talking points of that series.

Bangladesh Playing XI: 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Litton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Afif Hossain, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Hasan Mahmud

Afghanistan Playing XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 9 Fazalhaq Farooqi, 10 Azmatullah Omarzai, 11 Mohammad Saleem

BDST: 1415 HRS, JULY 5, 2023
MN