ZCZC
BSP-13
CRICKET-BD-AFG-TOSS
Saifuddin, Mosaddek back as Bangladesh bats against Afghanistan
DHAKA, June 24, 2019 (BSS) – Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib won the toss after it was delayed for 10 minutes and asked Bangladesh to bat first at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Monday.
Mohammad Saifuddin and Mosaddek Hossain Saikat recover from the back spasm and shoulder injury to make them available in the match replacing Rubel Hossain and Sabbir Rahman.
Both of them missed the match against Australia in which Bangladesh lost by 48 runs, chasing a mammoth target of 382. And their absence was badly felt.
Afghanistan also brought up two changes from the game against India where they pushed the two-time World Champions vehemently before going down to 11 runs.
Dawlat Zadran and Samiullah Shinwari came in the place of Aftab Alam and Hazratullah Zazai.
Bangladesh sits at the sixth position of the point table with five points from six matches. Afghanistan who is languishing at the bottom of the table with six straight defeats had already been eliminated from the tournament.
Bangladesh held the advantage in face-to-face battle, winning four and losing three in seven encounters against Afghanistan.
The Tigers also crushed Afghanistan by 105 runs in 2015 World Cup, hosted jointly by Australia-New Zealand, their only meeting in the cricket’s biggest extravaganza so far.
But in the last Asia Cup held at Dubai in 2018, Bangladesh tasted a humiliating 136-run defeat to Afghans, before sealing a narrow three-run victory in return-leg match. Bangladesh also lost a match to Afghanistan in Asia Cup in 2014 at their home soil.
As far as the multinational tournament including World Cup is concerned, they faced off each other four times and the result locked at 2-2.
So the stat suggested Afghans were never a pushover for Bangladesh. But the Tigers still should be absolutely favourite in this World Cup match, given their performance, cricket culture and history.
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicket-keeper), Liton Das, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Mustafizur Rahman.
Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib (captain), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Alikhil (wicket-keeper), Rashid Khan, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Umpire: Michael Gough, England; Richard Kettleborough, England
TV Umpire: Aleem Dar, Pakistan. Match Referee: Sir Richie Richardson, West Indies.
BSS/SMP/SMM/1530 hrs