Bangladesh bat in decider; Zakir replaces injured Shanto, debut for Rana

Toss Bangladesh chose to bat vs Afghanistan

Bangladesh’s stand-in captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz won the toss against Afghanistan in the third ODI in Sharjah, and opted to bat first. Mehidy was leading the side in place of the regular captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, whose groin injury has not only ruled him out of this match but also from the upcoming Tests against West Indies.

In another change to their team, Bangladesh also decided to rest senior quick Taskin Ahmed from the series decider against Afghanistan. In Shanto and Taskin’s place, they brought in Zakir Hasan and debutant fast bowler Nahid Rana, respectively.

Rana, 22, has the ability to consistently bowl at 140kph, and had impressed the selectors on Test tours of Pakistan and India over the last few months. So far, he has played only ten List A games, picking up 26 wickets at a fantastic average of 16.46.

Afghanistan’s captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, meanwhile, confirmed the same playing XI for the third game in a row, even as his side had lost the second ODI by 68 runs on Saturday. Before that, a 92-run win in the first game had put them 1-0 up in the series.

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 Soumya Sarkar, 2 Tanzid Hasan Tamim, 3 Zakir Hasan, 4 Mehidy Hasan Miraz (capt), 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Jaker Ali (wk), 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Nahid Rana, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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