Afghanistan bat first, hand ODI debut to Sediqullah Atal

Afghanistan opt to bat vs Bangladesh

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss against Bangladesh in the first ODI in Sharjah, and opted to bat first.

Afghanistan handed a debut to left-hand opening batter Sediqullah Atal, with regular opener Ibrahim Zadran ruled out due to an ankle injury. Atal, however, has played six T20Is already. Afghanistan also included four spin-bowling options in their side: legspinners Rashid Khan and part-timer Rahmat Shah, left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote, and offspinners Mohammad Nabi and AM Ghazanfar.

Fazalhaq Farooqi was their only frontline quick, with Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib to provide support.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, are without Shakib Al Hasan, who has reportedly opted out of the series; Litton Das, who is down with a fever; and Tanzim Hasan, who is out with a shoulder injury. Nasum Ahmed and Nahid Rana were unavailable for the game, as they were awaiting their UAE visa in the lead-up to the match. They have gone in with three frontline pacers in Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam and two spinners in Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Rishad Hossain.

Afghanistan enter the series on the back of a 2-1 win against South Africa in September, even as Bangladesh are playing their first ODI in eight months. This is also Bangladesh’s first ODI in Sharjah in 29 years.

Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 AM Ghazanfar, 10 Nangeyalia Kharote, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan Tamim, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Shoriful Islam

Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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