Bangladesh take on Afghanistan in the 31st match of ICC World Cup 2019 at Southampton. While Afghanistan have been knocked out of the tournament after their narrow loss to India over the weekend, Bangladesh are still in there by a whisker, hoping to stage another win to challenge the top-four. They have been superb in this tournament with runs coming from their premier batsmen, but will need to step up with the ball too as they take on the only winless team of the tournament.
Pitch and weather conditions: The Rose Bowl has a slow, sluggish wicket on which spinners thrive. India and Afghanistan fought out a close game on Saturday and Bangladesh will know their batsmen will find it tough against Afghanistan's array of spinners.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: Mushfiqur Rahim (10 credits)
Rahim led Bangladesh's charge against Australia in a massive run-chase and after the scintillating hundred, is in fine form for the sub-continental side. An anchor in the middle-order, Rahim is among Bangladesh's best and will be banked upon to counter Afghanistan's spinners.
Batsman: Rahmat Shah (9 credits)
Rahmat Shah is the only Afghanistan batsman to clock over 1,000 runs since the last ICC event—the Champions Trophy in 2017—and is a reliable batsman in the middle-order for them. Back Rahmat to do it for Afghanistan on a pitch he is familiar with.
All-rounder: Mohammad Nabi (9 credits)
Nabi wrestled back the game for Afghanistan against India at this very ground two days ago. A fighter in the middle-order
Bangladesh take on Afghanistan in the 31st match of ICC World Cup 2019 at Southampton. While Afghanistan have been knocked out of the tournament after their narrow loss to India over the weekend, Bangladesh are still in there by a whisker, hoping to stage another win to challenge the top-four. They have been superb in this tournament with runs coming from their premier batsmen, but will need to step up with the ball too as they take on the only winless team of the tournament.
Pitch and weather conditions: The Rose Bowl has a slow, sluggish wicket on which spinners thrive. India and Afghanistan fought out a close game on Saturday and Bangladesh will know their batsmen will find it tough against Afghanistan's array of spinners.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: Mushfiqur Rahim (10 credits)
Rahim led Bangladesh's charge against Australia in a massive run-chase and after the scintillating hundred, is in fine form for the sub-continental side. An anchor in the middle-order, Rahim is among Bangladesh's best and will be banked upon to counter Afghanistan's spinners.
Batsman: Rahmat Shah (9 credits)
Rahmat Shah is the only Afghanistan batsman to clock over 1,000 runs since the last ICC event—the Champions Trophy in 2017—and is a reliable batsman in the middle-order for them. Back Rahmat to do it for Afghanistan on a pitch he is familiar with.
All-rounder: Mohammad Nabi (9 credits)
Nabi wrestled back the game for Afghanistan against India at this very ground two days ago. A fighter in the middle-order and a handy off-break bowler on such wickets, Nabi should be a priority in your team. He dismissed Virat Kohli with the ball and smashed a valiant half-century to bring Afghanistan close.
Bowler: Mustafizur Rahman (9 credits)
On a pitch where the ball sticks to the wicket, Mustafizur is expected to be a handful. He has been mighty effective with the old ball this World Cup, mixing up his cutters and slower variations and should find it easier against the Afghanistan batsmen who haven't quite stepped up.
Captain: Shakib Al Hasan
Vice-captain: Mohammad Nabi
Predicted Playing XI:
Afghanistan: Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Ali Khil, Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman,
