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About 48 hours to go. Big series here. Afghanistan just defeated South Africa in an ODI series, and while SA may (or may not) have been missing some players, that just adds one more feather on their cap. Afghanistan are no longer white ball pushovers, having come a hair's width from the ODI world cup semi-finals last year, and then making the T20 semifinals a few months later, indicating that they can learn from their mistakes and make adjustments as necessary.

Both teams will take this as preparation for the Champions Trophy which is now only 4 months away, with the Afghans set to make their Champions Trophy debut.

Also at stake are ODI rankings points. Bangladesh finding that their poor form in their traditionally strongest format has left them just two points ahead of the Afghans, and whoever wins the series will jump or stay ahead of the other in the battle for the 8th spot in the global rankings chart.

Ibrahim Zadran is out with an ankle injury...but lookout for Sediqullah Atal who was scoring runs for fun in the T20 Emerging Asia Cup last month, as Afghanistan won the tournament for the first time in their history.

Chasing 235, Bangladesh went from 133-3 to 140 all out.

They lost the last 7 wickets the way Kamala lost the 7 battleground states

Amazing that Afghanistan are so strong. How does a war torn stone age country keep producing talent? Is there nothing else for people to do than play cricket?

eugene wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 08, 2024 7:59 pm

Amazing that Afghanistan are so strong. How does a war torn stone age country keep producing talent? Is there nothing else for people to do than play cricket?

Naturally gifted athletes, talented cricketers plus a good amount of grit and determination. Tremendous heart as well to struggle against all odds with heads held high, probably only surpassed by the Palestinian people. Afghans also always seem to at least try, even when they play poorly you get the sense that its not due to complacency or lack of focus.

Good ole fashion 2000s type ODIs these in Sharjah were 225-250 is a competitive total. Kind of refreshing to see once in a while from the 350 par score games.

Side story for Bangladesh is Shanto wanting to step down as captain in all 3 formats citing his batting form. BCB doesn't seem too keen to accept his resignation, and a series win here might just convince him to stay on. Moreover, his batting average in ODIs as a captain is now 54 from 11 innings, so its not that his form is universally suffering due to the pressure of leading the side. On top of that his actual captaincy is amongst the best from Bangladesh already. He's the first Bangladesh captain to win an ODI in New Zealand, the first to win a Test series in Pakistan, and with 3 Test wins, he's got to have the most wins against WTC sides as a captain as well.

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 09, 2024 8:32 pm

eugene wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 08, 2024 7:59 pm

Amazing that Afghanistan are so strong. How does a war torn stone age country keep producing talent? Is there nothing else for people to do than play cricket?

Naturally gifted athletes, talented cricketers plus a good amount of grit and determination. Tremendous heart as well to struggle against all odds with heads held high, probably only surpassed by the Palestinian people. Afghans also always seem to at least try, even when they play poorly you get the sense that its not due to complacency or lack of focus.

Good ole fashion 2000s type ODIs these in Sharjah were 225-250 is a competitive total. Kind of refreshing to see once in a while from the 350 par score games.

Palestinians? They aren't good at anything. I can't even name one great Palestinian. Although given they were only invented in the 1960s I guess they haven't had all that long to achieve something.

Damn, I was looking forward to the series decider today and then found out the game was already over!

Looks like a close game that Afghans took. Hats off to them, they were the better side. Fairly tight series each team blowing the other out, and then the Afghans taking a close-ish game in the decider.

Afghanistan also goes past Bangladesh now in the ODI rankings...BD falls to 9th now. Quite a bit of work to do before the Champions Trophy.

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 09, 2024 8:32 pm

Tremendous heart as well to struggle against all odds with heads held high, probably only surpassed by the Palestinian people.

sounds more like Israel; surrounded on all sides by hostile Islamic nations and still not driven into the sea like the Yom Kippur war in 1972 when 5 countries had a pop at the same time and Israel was just like whatever bro

Pat_Bee wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 12, 2024 11:47 am

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 09, 2024 8:32 pm

Tremendous heart as well to struggle against all odds with heads held high, probably only surpassed by the Palestinian people.

sounds more like Israel; surrounded on all sides by hostile Islamic nations and still not driven into the sea like the Yom Kippur war in 1972 when 5 countries had a pop at the same time and Israel was just like whatever bro

Imagine a Test match between Zimbabwe and India, that India won. But India were given free 10 pound titanium coated bats by Gunn and Moore, whilst Zimbabwe were only allowed to bat with wooden spatulas. You'd expect India to win by 100 runs or so.

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 12, 2024 3:55 pm

Pat_Bee wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 12, 2024 11:47 am

Kriterion_BD wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 09, 2024 8:32 pm

Tremendous heart as well to struggle against all odds with heads held high, probably only surpassed by the Palestinian people.

sounds more like Israel; surrounded on all sides by hostile Islamic nations and still not driven into the sea like the Yom Kippur war in 1972 when 5 countries had a pop at the same time and Israel was just like whatever bro

Imagine a Test match between Zimbabwe and India, that India won. But India were given free 10 pound titanium coated bats by Gunn and Moore, whilst Zimbabwe were only allowed to bat with wooden spatulas. You'd expect India to win by 100 runs or so.

That’s far off the mark, it was a Rhodesian side and a first class match. The ICC, UN or whoever put a cricketing equipment embargo on Rhodesia so they couldn’t import Gunn and Moore titanium bats. Neighbouring countries of shared philosophy and culture like Portuguese Mozambique and South Africa busted the embargo and provided D&P titanium bats without stickers and if Salisbury Sports Club was unplayable for whatever reason, they would have said you can come and play on our ground while your own is sorted.