It’s the third match of the 2022 Asia Cup and if you’d like some top Bangladesh vs Afghanistan betting tips in a crucial Group B encounter, you’re about to get them.
Our online cricket betting analysis of this match also includes: the team’s recent form, the team news, the pitch report and everything else you need to know before the teams go to battle at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, August 30, with a start time of 7.30 pm IST.
So keep reading and you’ll be fully armed with all the necessary information.
My cricket betting tips are below and the key one is that I think Afghanistan can win this one as outsiders.
I’m about to explain why I think the odds should be much closer and why for that reason, it makes good betting sense to side with the team available at the bigger odds.
There’s also the toss winner market and a third bet (known as the Hot Bet) at bigger odds than usual to look forward to.
It’s not the most original in terms of the featured player- superstar Shakib Al-Hasan- but it’s a good one and at very attractive odds. Read on to see which market it’s on.
So, keep on reading and you’ll find out who we’ve gone for.
Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Betting Winner Prediction
Recommended Bet: Back Afghanistan to win @ 2.06 with Pure Win.
Bangladesh are 1.77 with Afghanistan at 2.06 on Pure Win. Does that seem right? Maybe not.
The Tigers are admittedly one place above Afghanistan in the ICC T20I rankings but there’s not much in it, while as we explain in the head-to-head section below, it’s Rashid Khan and co who are 5-3 ahead over the years.
We can also point to the fact that Mohammad Nabi’s men are fresh from an excellent win over Sri Lanka, so will feel confident and happy with the gameplan that saw them win so convincingly.
We know that games played in Dubai heavily favour the chaser but that isn’t so much the case here in Sharjah, where matches at the World Cup last year suggested there wasn’t any big advantage to doing one (batting first) or the other (fielding first).
So in the absence of a toss bias that could ruin our pre-match analysis, it makes sense to go with the outsiders.
Not just because they’ll be feeling great from that win on Saturday and look to be well-matched in terms of the quality of the players, but also because they’re just that: the outsiders, so available at considerably bigger odds.
Why not read our Pure Win review? Here you’ll find out what makes this one of the top betting sites for Indian customers.
Recommended Bet: Back Shakib Al-Hasan to be Bangladesh’s Top Bowler @ 5.2 with Betway.
Betting sites don’t often make ‘mistakes’ but we think we may have spotted one here.
By all means, read our top bowler guide in depth but what we always look for in a bowler is a) a strong career record including a good strike rate b) a player who always bowls four overs c) a player whose bowling suits the conditions d) a bowler who bowls at the death if possible and e) is available at good odds.
The only one of those boxes that the great Shakib Al-Hasan doesn’t tick is that he doesn’t bowl at the death.
But he’s their class act and always has been. And at odds of 5.2, we have to back him to take the most wickets for Bangladesh on the day.
Our Betway review explains what we like about this betting site and why it’s one of the ones we recommend the most.
Bangladesh are down in ninth on the ICC T20I rankings, proof that they’re not going through a particularly good period in this format.
They’ve lost four of their last five, including two out of three against Zimbabwe last month, a real low point for them. Before that, they lost two in a row against the West Indies.
So they come into this tournament in poor form, which is a shame for them because they have a strong record in this competition, making the final in three of the last four editions.
The big plus point for them is that Shakib Al-Hasan is available and committed.
He’s not just their best player, he’s their best-ever player and because he’s an all-rounder, they can look forward to him making a huge impact with both bat and ball.
But he’s also the skipper so you could argue he has a bit too much on his plate here.
Mahmadullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman are the experienced heads, while Litton Das has found some form at the top of the order over the last year or so.
Tamim Iqbal, a prolific opener, has decided not to play T20Is anymore and they’ll miss him badly.
Afghanistan came into this tournament on the back of a surprise series defeat to Ireland a couple of weeks ago but all that has been forgotten after a near-flawless performance in beating Sri Lanka on Saturday.
They did everything right. They took early wickets, kept on taking them, were economical and ended up restricting Sri Lanka to just 106.
And with the bat, they were aggressive from the start which meant they were never in any danger of being under pressure at the end.
Interestingly, it wasn’t Rashid Khan doing all the damage this time.
He was economical, as per usual, but didn’t take any of the 10 wickets.
Instead, it was Fazlhaaq Farooqi who took three wickets for just 11 runs and rightfully got the man of the match award.
With the bat Hazratullah Zazai (37 off 28) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (40 off 28) pretty much finished off the job.
They couldn’t have asked for a better start and will already be thinking of a place in the Super Four stage, particularly because they have an excellent net run rate now.
Afghanistan’s Likely XI
Zazai, Gurbaz, I Zadran, N Zadran, Janta, Nabi, Khan, Omarzai, Ul Haq, Rahman, Farooqi.
Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Head-to-Head
Afghanistan are 5-3 up in this fixture, mostly on the back of winning a series 3-0 (in India) back in 2018.
But that aside, things have been pretty tight.
The last four matches have seen a 2-2 split. They shared a Series 1-1 in March this year.
Venue & Conditions
This is the first match of the tournament that will be played at Sharjah after the first two were at Dubai.
This is one of the toughest grounds to call in terms of what a par score is.
At the last World Cup, first innings scores were all over the place but what we do know is that like with all grounds in the UAE, batting second is something of an advantage but not nearly as much as it is in Dubai.
