Mushfiqur Rahim
Mushfiqur Rahim will be a crucial member of the Bangladesh Cricket team during this upcoming tour.Reuters

Bangladesh have always been one of the strongest teams in world cricket when playing at home. History shows that they have defeated big teams at home, but Afghanistan have not been perturbed with such things in the ODI series, which is currently tied at 1-1.

With the series beautifully poised, the third match, which is set to be played at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, will act as the series decider. Afghanistan played some strong cricket and showed fighting spirit to clinch the second ODI. It is such determination which needs to be on display when it matters the most for the Afghans in the final ODI. 

However, there is nothing much to choose between the two teams going into the third and final ODI of the series. It has been really close, with Bangladesh emerging victorious by seven runs in the first ODI, and Afghanistan bouncing back to clinch the second match by two wickets. In both the matches, the results could have gone either way.

Bangladesh have batted first in the two ODIs, but the Bangla Tigers need their batsmen to fire in the third ODI. They need to make sure that their batsmen, after getting a decent start, score big with lower order batsmen also contributing with the bat. 

Not only Bangladesh, Afghanistan's lower order needs to find a way to make the scorecard moving. Even while chasing 209 runs to run, Afghanistan only scripted the win in the final over.

To be fair, bowlers including Taskin Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan (both Bangladesh) and Mohammad Nabi, Dawlat Zadran (Afghanistan) from both the teams have been brilliant bowling a great line and length, picking wickets as well. Now, the Bangladesh and Afghanistan batsmen will hope to get on top of them and score runs.

The fans have been entertained with nail-biting cricket so far, but they would love to watch a match where batsmen flourish, resulting in a run-feast.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan 2nd ODI

Date: Saturday, October 1.

Time: 2.30pm local time (2pm IST, 9.30am BST).

Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.

TV listings: India: No live coverage. Bangladesh: GTV and BTV. USA: Willow TV.Middle East and North Africa: OSN Cricket.