Afghanistan are set to host Bangladesh in a three-match ODI series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium from Wednesday. The opening game of the series will be another milestone for the Sharjah Cricket Stadium as it marks the 300th international match at the iconic venue.

Sharjah Cricket Stadium holds the record for hosting the most number of ODIS in the world with 252 matches to its name. The first ODI between Afghanistan and Bangladesh will be the 300th game – Tests, ODIS and T20s combined together. The historic venue has hosted 250 ODIS, 38 T20s and 10 Test matches.

Sharjah Cricket Stadium is the home ground of the Afghanistan team. Afghanistan recently hosted South Africa in three-match ODI series. They beat South Africa 2-1. Against a depleted Bangladesh, Afghanistan are overwhelming favourites as they are well aware of the conditions.

Afghanistan made quite a few changes to their squad. They have brought in opening batsman Sediqullah Atal and wily spinner Noor Ahmad in place of Ibrahim Zadran, who is nursing an injury and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who injured his hand, respectively.

Fazalhaq Farooqi will be again in the spotlight due to his exploits against South Africa. Farooqi obliterated the top order of South Africa in the opening game of the ODI series, which pushed the Proteas to the backfoot from the beginning.

They could never recover from that shock and eventually lost the series to Afghanistan. It was their first series loss against Afghans in any format.

The spin trio of Afghanistan is one of the most potent and lethal attacks in the world. Star spinner Rashid Khan, Mohamamd Nabi and Mujeeb ur Rehman can rip through any batting lineup of the world. But Mujeeb is out of action but Afghanistan found his replacement in 18-year-old off-spinner AM Ghazanfar, who put up a stellar performance against South Africa.

Bangladesh are coming into the series after the humiliating Test defeat against India and South Africa. They have been depleted by the absence of their star all-rounder Shakib ul Hasan.

Source: Gulf Today

BDST: 1301 HRS, NOV 06, 2024
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