Bangladesh vs Afghanistan – 2nd International T20 Preview & Prediction
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THE FACTS
When is Bangladesh vs Afghanistan taking place? Sunday, July 16th, 2023 – 13:00 (UK)
Where is Bangladesh vs Afghanistan taking place? Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, Sylhet
What channel is Bangladesh vs Afghanistan on? Bangladesh vs Afghanistan will not be televised live in the UK
Where can I stream Bangladesh vs Afghanistan? Bangladesh vs Afghanistan can be streamed live on ICC.tv
LAST MEETING
Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by two wickets
THE LOWDOWN
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh won a close opening T20i, successfully icing a chase of 155 despite some final over jitters to take the lead in this short series. With just one game left to play, the Tigers cannot lose the series, but they’ll certainly want to win it with home advantage in their favour. Early powerplay wickets were crucial on Friday as Bangladesh took three wickets within the opening six overs of the match and reduced their opponents to 87/5 at one stage. Whilst they’ll have been disappointed with their performance at the back end of the innings which saw Afghanistan reach a competitive score, Bangladesh will surely be happy with all six bowlers utilised picking up at least one wicket and how the batting order held their nerve in the chase, reaching the target in the final over.
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan are likely to look back on a poor start with the bat which ultimately cost them the opening T20i. Losing early wickets immediately hampered their hopes of accruing a high total and whilst they did well to eventually reach 154/7, it was too small a score for them to defend despite Karim Janat’s best efforts in the final over of the match, taking a hat-trick whilst attempting to defend just six runs. Mohammad Nabi’s unbeaten half-century deserves credit, as does the support afforded to him down the order. The onus is now on the top four to perform better this time round, three of whom made single figure scores last time out.
THE PREDICTION
Whilst Bangladesh emerged triumphant, the opening T20i was an extremely tight encounter and it would be no surprise if we saw something on the same lines this time round. Ultimately though, had the Afghanistan top order put significantly more runs on the board, then they are likely to have ended up victorious and it’s hard to see them misfiring as badly twice in a row. Expect a stronger showing up top from Afghanistan and with the experience of Nabi and Rashid within their ranks, back the tourists to get the better of Bangladesh in the second T20i and tie the series.
TIP: AFGHANISTAN TO WIN
