BAN vs AFG: Afghanistan's Predicted Playing XI Against Bangladesh Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, 3rd ODI 

Afghanistan haven’t lived up to the expectations in the ODI series against Bangladesh. Two losses in the first two ODIs meant they have already lost the series. They conceded as many as 306 runs in the first ODI and were, later, bundled out for 218.

They lost the game by a big margin of 88 runs. The Afghans will be playing the last match of the ODI series to salvage some pride on Monday. Here’s a look at our predicted playing XI of the Afghanistan Cricket Team for the third ODI.

BAN vs AFG: Afghanistan’s Predicted Playing XI Against Bangladesh Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, 3rd ODI

Openers: R Gurbaz and Riaz Hassan

Both the batsmen are short of runs in the series. Gurbaz hasn’t been able to stood out to the expectations. In 2 matches, he has only managed to score 14 runs at an average of 7. He will have the responsibility of giving a good start to the team. His partner, Riaz Hassan is only 19 years old and has played just 2 ODIs so far. He made only 1 run in the last game but the team won’t do any good to his confidence he gets dropped in the next game.

Middle-Order: H Shahidi, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah

Skipper H Shahidi is short of runs. He got out after scoring only 5 runs in the last game. The skipper is expected to come good in the next game. The other two batsmen, Rahman Shah and Najibullah, however, are in pretty good form. The latter has two half-centuries in two matches, while Rahmat Shah scored a half-century in the last game. Both are key to the team’s fortune in the next game.

All-rounders: M Nabi, Rashid Khan and Gulbadin

Nabi and Rashid Khan have failed to live up to the expectations. Both are short of runs and haven’t done anything significant with the ball either. Being the senior members in the team, they need to come up with significant contributions with both bat and ball. Besides, Afghanistan would look to bring Gulbadin back into the playing XI for the next game.

Bowlers: Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ahmadzai, and Fazalhaq Farooqi

Fazalhaq Farooqi has been the standout bowler for the team. He picked four wickets in the first ODI but couldn’t replicate a similar performance on Sunday. Bangladesh played him with caution in the last game and it will be interesting to see if he could come back well on Monday. Mujeeb too has disappointed with his bowling performance and has a huge scope for improvement.