Asia Cup 2023 | BAN vs AFG - Comparative Analysis of Afghan and Bangladeshi Bowling

image-lm59gs07Afghanistan faced a defeat against Bangladesh in their first game of Asia Cup 2023 (Source: AP Photos)

The second match of group B between Bangladesh and Afghanistan ends with Bangladesh beating Afghanistan by a huge margin . After a disappointing performance it was important for Bangladesh to win this game to stay alive in the tournament. The Bangladesh batsmen looked much more confident than the last game with Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto scoring brilliant centuries and building a massive partnership of 194 runs from 190 balls. The finishing touches from skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim were enough to get them to a massive total of 334. 

Ibrahim Zadran and Hashmatullah shahidi played great knocks to keep Afghanistan in the game. However after they were dismissed the Afghan middle order failed to capitalise on the platform set by them. The Afghanistan innings ended with them getting bowled out for 245 and lost the game by 89 runs.


Afghanistan vs Bangladesh Bowling Recap

image-lm4wx9i0Phase wise Ban & Afg Figures

We did see some great batting prowess from both the teams but we cannot overlook the contribution made by the bowlers as well. The powerplay is where Bangladesh bowlers were more consistent. The opening spells of Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam kept the batsmen quiet by cramping them for room and allowing only 37 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. The same cannot be said about Afghanistan’s bowling in the powerplay where Farooqi wasn’t at his best and Mujeeb was slightly wayward. 

The inconsistency of the bowlers in the powerplay allowed the Batsmen to get off the blocks early and were looking comfortable at 60-1. The next 30 overs just went from bad to worse for the Afghanistan bowlers where they were easily milking runs and could only take 1 wicket in middle overs. The bowlers had conceded 171 runs at an economy of 5.7. The Bangladesh bowlers did struggle a bit in this phase as well with Zadran and Shahidi attacking the spinners who were struggling on this wicket. However the pacers and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in his second spell came back to make 4 big breakthroughs to keep Bangladesh in control. 

Even though the Bangladesh bowlers conceded more than the Afghanistan bowlers(175) the four wickets just added more pressure on the Afghan batsmen. The death overs were once again dominated by the Bangladesh bowlers where the pacers used the conditions really well and ended the Afghan innings by taking 5 wickets for just 33 runs in just 4.3 overs. The same cannot be said about the Afghan bowling attack who conceded 103 runs in the 10 overs and could only manage 3 wickets. 


Conclusion

In conclusion it is fair to say the Afghanistan team are still finding their feet in international cricket. They have some brilliant and attacking spinners but still lack a great pace attack. On much flatter tracks like this which was giving some extra bounce it was important for the pacers to come to the party. This is where the Bangladesh bowling attack with the likes of Taskin, Shoriful and Mahmud were mixing their line and lengths better compared to the likes of Farooqi, Naib and Janat who were either too predictable or just inconsistent in their approach.

It is also important to compare the spinners of both the teams who struggled on this surface to get wickets. Even though Shakib and Mehidy could not get the breakthroughs, they still came back with decent second spells. On the other hand the spinners of Afghanistan were really expensive.