Despite a horrible performance in the first match, Bangladesh hope to turn the things around and level the three-game One Day International series when they take on Afghanistan Saturday in the second encounter at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The clash starts at 4pm Bangladesh time and will be shown live on T Sports.
A batting meltdown, which saw them lose last eight wickets for just 23 runs, caused Bangladesh's 92-run defeat in the series opener.
The batting debacle though was not new to Bangladesh of late as this particular aspect has been chronic for quite a while now.
Mehedi Hasan Miraz, a vital cog of the Bangladesh team, however, does not think the defeat was down to a mental breakdown.
"One bad game wouldn't make us a bad team overnight," Miraz told the media Friday in the United Arab Emirates.
"We have won so many matches against Afghanistan, especially in ODI format. This format is our strong zone. We have beaten them in World Cup, beaten them in bilateral series."
What would haunt Bangladesh is that they lost the match from an absolute winning position with the weakest link – top-order - coming out all guns blazing.
Despite losing opener Tanzid Hasan cheaply, Bangladesh reached 120/2, chasing the target of 236.
But they then suffered a collapse, sparked by 18-year old off-spinner AM Ghazanfar to go down to a heavy defeat.
"We have won T20 games against them at our home soil. Beforehand, we won a series against them," a defiant Miraz remarked.
"So a defeat in the first game doesn't mean that everything has been lost and we can't bounce back. Hopefully we'll come back strongly."
Miraz blamed the behavior of the pitch for their crushing loss.
"The pitch wasn't what we expected. But at the same time, it is imperative to take the responsibility. As batters, we admit that we couldn’t drive home the advantage," he added.
Along with the defeat, Bangladesh also lost their important member Mushfiqur Rahim to a finger injury.
Although the veteran wicketkeeper-batter, who was ruled out of the remaining two ODIs, was not in top form, his presence adds extra experience, especially with no Shakib al Hasan or Tamim Iqbal.
Despite losing the first match, Bangladesh still hold the edge over Afghanistan, winning 10 and losing seven in 17 meetings.
The Tigers, as they are adorably called, had a perfect record against Afghanistan in bilateral ODI series until July last year, when they lost 2-1 in Chittagong.
The series defeat in fact initiated a lean period for Bangladesh in what is widely accepted as their strongest format.
Pressure will be on Bangladesh in the second game as they know that a defeat would hand them a second straight series loss against the Afghans.
Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed and fast bowler Nahid Rana have already joined the side after visa complicacy prevented them from coming here with the other players.
Bangladesh however, did not name a replacement for Mushfiq.
While a change in his place is an inevitability, Bangladesh could ponder dropping one or two players more going into the second game that is now a “do or die” tie.
