Asia Cup 2018: 5 areas at which Bangladesh should look against Afghanistan
Bangladesh started off their Asia Cup campaign on a positive note against Sri Lanka in the first match of the tournament as they beat the islanders by a big margin of 137 runs.
Now, the Tigers are all set to face one of the most promising teams in the world cricket right now, Afghanistan, who beat Sri Lanka as well and made their way to the Super Four stage along with Bangladesh from group B.
Afghanistan outplayed Sri Lanka in all the departments of the game. They were very mature while batting and strategic while bowling. Afghanistan's performance against Sri Lanka came as a wake-up call for all the other top teams ahead of their Super Four-games.
Bangladesh should address some areas during their next game against Afghanistan. We have tried to find out those areas here:
#5 Bangladesh have to break the opening pair of Afghanistan quickly
Mohammad Shahzad and Ihsanullah Janat are the openers for Afghanistan. While Shahzad is now an international cricketer with experience of 9 years, Ihsanullah started off his international career two years back.
This pair played a pivotal role to beat Sri Lanka in their first match of this year's Asia Cup. They added 57 runs on the board in 11.4 overs, that advanced Afghanistan in the contest.
Bangladesh should break this pair as early as possible in their next outing.
#4 Mashrafe has to use his bowlers with a great plan
Maybe Afghanistan batsmen are not much experienced to play at the highest level of cricket, but their ability to bat against Asian bowlers are not too far. They are seriously skilled against spin bowling.
Lasith Malinga was successful against Bangladesh as he took four wickets after making his return to ODI cricket. But, he had to struggle to take a single wicket against Afghanistan. He just took a wicket conceding 66 runs in the match. That is enough to prove the ability of Afghanistan batsmen.
So, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza should use his bowlers with a great plan against Afghanistan. There is no chance for them to see Afghan batsmen either as inexperienced or incapable outplay Bangladeshi bowlers.