Afghanistan upbeat to beat Bangladesh in ODI series

Chattogram, 22 Feb —Afghanistan captain Hasmatullah Shahidi remains upbeat about their chance to beat Bangladesh in the upcoming three-match ODI series, which is the part of ICC ODI Super League.

Knowing that the result is very important in fulfilling their aspiration to confirm a berth in the 2023 World Cup in India, Shahidi said they covered all areas before taking on Bangladesh. The first ODI will be held tomorrow at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium here.

Shahidi knew that Bangladesh also had the similar intention to win the series but he said he hardly cared about what Bangladesh thought.

 “I care about our strength, our boys, my team. We have a good team here. In every department, I have confidence. We will do our best,” Shahidi said here today.

In the eight encounters between the two teams, Bangladesh have the edge winning five ODIs while Afghanistan won three matches. Bangladesh also won the last two matches in neutral venues, nullifying Afghans spin threat. But last time when those two teams met on Bangladesh's soil, Afghanistan were the winners. Shahidi said they want to start from where they left last time in Bangladesh.

 “Of course I want to start it from there. We have good memories here. We took positive things from that game. We will try to start it again tomorrow,” he said.

 “We have a good spin bowling attack. In these Bangladeshi wickets, spin bowling is very good. I am confident of that. It is a good sign for us.”

But what would play against Afghanistan is that they played more T20 cricket than ODI cricket. Shahidi doesn’t want to think of it as any problem. He rather mentioned that Afghanistan so far won all of the six matches in the ICC Super League that came against Ireland and Netherlands.

 “We have only played against Ireland and the Netherlands in the last two years. We played well in our last series, but also we prepared well after the Netherlands series. It will not be a big problem for us.”

However, the interim coach Stuart Law, who was also the head coach of Bangladesh previously, and BPL experience of some players would play for them in the upcoming series.

“I think he (Law) coached here. He knows about all the things – ground and pitches. I am following his advice. It may make a difference.”

“On the other hand, BPL will help a lot. We have played a lot of one-day cricket in Bangladesh. Recently we have had players with experience of playing in the BPL. It will help us know the grounds and pitches.”

Shahidi didn’t single out any Bangladeshi player’s name as their threat, instead he said they have plans for the whole Bangladesh team.

“To be honest, we think about the whole team. We plan for everyone. We know the strengths and weak points of everyone. We are working on it,” he concluded.