Bangladesh vs Afghanistan 1st T20I Betting Tips 03/03/2022

March 2, 2022

Zohaib Ahmed, Senior Author

The 1^st T20I between Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be played on March 3 (Thursday) at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur. The match is to begin at 2:30pm IST.

Teams Status

Bangladesh

Bangladesh got a swift reminder in the last ODI that Afghanistan will be no joke in the T20 series.

The Tigers, eyeing a whitewash, were thrashed by seven wickets instead as the Afghans’ increased familiarity with local conditions as well as ease with T20-level target (193) set by Bangladesh made their task easier.

A major concern for Bangladesh would be the form of star batsman and captain Tamim Iqbal, who failed in all three ODIs.

Bangladesh have lost all of their last eight T20Is so this format certainly does not appear to be their favourite.

Afghanistan

Like Bangladesh, Afghanistan were also below average at best at the World Cup last year but at least they have a unit that appears custom built for the T20 format. That’s the consensus at least.

The Afghans have made a number of changes to their T20 unit, with Mohammad Shahzad, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan and Hashmatullah Shahidi among the experienced group that has been dropped.

In their place, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai and Nijat Masood have been drafted in.

They have a new-look pace unit but of course their bowling will be spearheaded by the two-headed spin monster of Rashid Khan, Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

What Do the Sportsbooks Say?

Brand	Bangladesh	Afghanistan
	1.61	2.28
	1.568	2.364
	1.63	2.30

Bangladesh are the favourites for the 1st T20I. Parimatch has Bangladesh priced at 1.61 and Afghanistan at 2.28. Paripesa has Bangladesh available for 1.568 and Afghanistan for 2.364. Lastly, Sportsbet has Bangladesh priced at 1.63 and Afghanistan at 2.30.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Afghanistan to win @ 2.364

Afghanistan have revamped themselves, ditching seniors and inducting juniors. Whether this revamp is for good or not, we’ll find out in this series. However, we know that Bangladesh have a lot of troubles in this format, and even though several of their stars are back, we are not convinced. Therefore, we’re going to take a chance on Afghanistan here. The odds have been sourced from Paripesa.

Tip: Hazratallah Zazai to score more than 18.5 runs @ 1.85

Hazratallah Zazai had a slightly underwhelming PSL recently, with just one half century in seven matches, although he did score in 40s on two other occasions. But his PSL performance isn’t any indictment on him. Zazai is a star in the making and can be one of the most devastating openers in the format in future. We certainly rate this man-mountain very highly. We think that he could be hard to handle for Bangla bowlers in this series. The odds for this play have been sourced from Sportsbet.

Conclusion

Bangladesh had triumphed the last time these two played a complete T20 fixture. But before that, Afghanistan had won three straight. This is to show that the Afghans know how to beat the Tigers and won’t be fazed by playing on their turf. We expect the Afghans to impress this series.

Zohaib Ahmed

18:24, 2 Mar 2022

Senior Author

Zohaib Ahmed

Senior Author

18:24, 2 Mar 2022

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.