Sports desk:

Bangladesh will be looking to end their eight match losing streak when they take Afghanistan in their second of the three-match ODI series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium today

The match is scheduled to begin at 4:00pm Bangladesh Standard Time with T Sports and Nagorik TV televising the game live.

Bangladesh must win the match to keep the series alive, following a shambolic performance on Wednesday at the same venue.

The Tigers were defeated by a big margin of 92 runs in the first ODI after a spectacular collapse in the batting where they lost the last eight wickets for just 23 runs.

That stretched the losing streak to eight, as their last win across the formats was against Pakistan in the second Test in Rawalpindi in early September.

Bangladesh failed to capitalise on the starts with both bat and ball as they had Afghanistan at 71-5 and then scored almost half of the target with eight wickets in hand while chasing 235 runs.

The defeat brought much scrutiny to the team, which had already been under a huge amount of pressure. But all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz wanted to keep the focus solely on today’s match.

‘See, we still have a chance. We lost one, but there are still two games to go. As we are on the backfoot, we have to focus on the next match,’ Mehidy told the reporters in the sideline of the Friday’s training session at the match venue.

Mehidy, who scored 28 coming at four in the first match, claimed that the long break in the format also played a part behind their dismal show.

Before the first ODI against the Afghans, Bangladesh had last played in the format in March against Sri Lanka at home. This was also the first ODI for them at Sharjah since 1995.

‘There was the thing that we’d played after quite some time in the ODI. We’re preparing in that way to gain momentum,’ said Mehidy.

‘We have played after so many years at this venue. The wicket did not behave the way we expected. We, the set batters, should’ve taken the responsibility,’ he added.

The collapse under the lights made the headlines after the first ODI. But Bangladesh missed an opportunity with the ball also after taking five wickets quickly. The three spinners—Mehidy, Rishad Hossain, and Mahmudullah—bowled 20 overs collectively but failed to get any wicket.

Mehidy admitted his failure of bowling role with saying, ’I think I couldn’t meet up the expectation [in bowling]. If me and Rishad could get two wickets in the middle overs, then it should’ve been easy for us.’

‘Maybe I didn’t concede too many runs, but the team expected that I’d bring wickets’, said the off-spinner, who gave just 30 runs from his 10 overs.

‘As my role is important for the team, if I can get wickets and score runs, it helps the team to a win.’

Bangladesh will have to bring a change in the XI after Mushfiqur Rahim was ruled out of the remaining two matches with a finger injury he sustained in the first ODI while keeping.

As Liton Das was already out due to fever, it is likely that wicketkeeper-batter Jaker Ali will make his ODI debut, who has already played one Test and 19 T20Is.

Mehidy said, ‘If Liton Das were here, it would’ve been great. As it cannot happen, best of luck to Jaker Ali. It’s a great opportunity for him.’

Left arm spinner Nasum Ahmed and uncapped pacer Nahid Rana will also be available for selection in this match. The duo were ruled out of the first match due to their visas got delayed.