After Afghanistan whitewash, Miraz shifts focus to West Indies series

Bangladesh suffered a major blow after being whitewashed 3–0 by Afghanistan in the ODI series — their first-ever such result in this format against the Afghans. The defeat capped off a disappointing month-and-a-half-long tour of the UAE, where the Tigers ended with frustration despite starting well in the T20I series.

Following a comfortable T20I sweep over Afghanistan, Bangladesh’s ODI campaign fell apart completely. In the final match, they were bundled out for just 93 runs, suffering a crushing 200-run defeat. The team’s batting has been the biggest concern — in eight ODIs this year, Bangladesh have been bowled out in seven of them.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz admitted the team’s shortcomings:

“We made a lot of mistakes. We couldn’t score runs. We had opportunities but couldn’t make the most of them. Everyone has accepted that we didn’t play well. They (Afghanistan) had a very good bowling attack, but we should have handled it better.”

Currently ranked 10th in the ICC ODI rankings, Bangladesh’s hopes of direct qualification for the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup are now in jeopardy. With 23 matches remaining before the cut-off date, the Tigers must regroup quickly.

They won’t have much time to recover either — just three days after the Afghanistan series, Bangladesh will take on West Indies in another limited-overs contest.

Ahead of the new challenge, Miraz sounded determined yet cautious:

“We are concerned about a few key areas. If we don’t score runs, we can’t win. Our top and middle-order batters need to perform. We’re already thinking about how to improve in the next series.”