Afghanistan bring spin arsenal
To play against BCB XI tomorrow
The Afghanistan national cricket team arrived in Dhaka yesterday afternoon as the South Asian nation are all set for a first bilateral series against Bangladesh.
The three-match ODI series will be another high point in Afghanistan's ascendancy up the ranks of international cricket. They have previously played only one series against a full-member nation, defeating Zimbabwe 3-2 in their ODI series in October 2015.
Afghanistan have a number of experienced players and although they have only played against Bangladesh twice in their history, they have played on Bangladeshi soil 10 times -- including four times at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, where all the matches will be held -- so the conditions will not be completely alien for them. Using this knowledge to their advantage, the Afghans have travelled with three leg-spinners in their side, hoping the tracks will, as they traditionally have done, benefit spinners.
Players like Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zardan, Mirwais Ashraf and Mohammad Nabi have a wealth of experience and they will be banking on that experience to lead the team, while also naming three uncapped players in the squad -- Ihsanullah, Naveen-ul-Haq and Karim Janat -- to bolster their squad with an injection of youth.
Afghanistan have also been playing ODI cricket regularly, competing in two ODI series in July, one a 1-0 win over Scotland and another a tied 2-2 series against Ireland.
Meanwhile, the Tigers have not played a single ODI this year and will be wary that any rust on their part might lead to an upset. The Tigers will want to go into their crucial three-match ODI and two-match Test series against England in October all guns blazing, so there will be little room for error on their part.
Before taking on the Tigers, Afghanistan will play a warm-up against a BCB XI side on September 23.
SQUAD
Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmat Shah, Mirwais Ashraf, Dawlat Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Rashid Khan, Hashmatullah Shaidi, Fareed Ahmad, Amir Hamza, Najibullah Zadran, Nawroz Mangal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Karim Janat, Shabir Noori, Ihsanullah