Bangladesh Hopes Mehidy Hasan Returns for Afghanistan ODI

Bangladesh is hoping to strengthen its lineup with the return of Mehidy Hasan for a must-win match against Afghanistan in the tri-nation ODI series in Sharjah on October 21. Head coach Phil Simmons said the all-rounder was recovering from a fever after missing the team's opening match against Zimbabwe, which Bangladesh lost by 99 runs.

Mehidy attended a training session in Abu Dhabi on Monday, October 19, after spending several days resting in his hotel room. His potential return would provide Bangladesh with an option as the team prepares for a crucial fixture following its disappointing start to the competition.

Bangladesh is also without regular captain Litton Das, who was ruled out of the ODI tri-nation series after failing a fitness test before the Zimbabwe match.

Simmons said Mehidy's recovery was progressing, although the player had not yet returned to full fitness.

"Yeah, it's great to see him as he had been in bed for the last couple days struggling," said Simmons, Bangladesh's head coach.

The coaching staff hopes additional rest and training will help Mehidy become available for the Afghanistan game. Simmons said the next two days would be important in assessing his readiness.

"He's still not fully there but hopefully with today and tomorrow he can get some more rest and be ready for the next game," he added.

Despite the heavy defeat to Zimbabwe, Simmons said the atmosphere within the squad remained positive. He said the players had reviewed their performance and identified areas that required improvement before facing Afghanistan.

"The energy is still good. We had a nice meeting this morning and put things on the table like what we did and we didn't do well and we know what we have to do now," Simmons said.

He described the loss as an isolated poor performance rather than evidence of a sustained decline in the team's form.

"It's not like we've been playing bad, we've been playing very good. We had a day where nothing really went well, so we know how to come back from that. So we're going to work today and prepare ourselves mentally over the next couple days so we'll be ready for that next game," he said.

Simmons also identified Bangladesh's inability to manage its innings after a promising start as a central problem in the defeat. He said the batters failed to recognize the match situation and preserve their wickets long enough to complete the 50-over innings.

"When we batted, we just lacked the understanding of the situation and knowing that with a start like that, we just had to make sure we bat for the 50 overs and we'd have won the game," Simmons said.

He said relatively small mistakes had accumulated during the innings and ultimately contributed to the loss.

"So just a few little points here and there, but things that add up and you lose the game. So we know that that's the small points we have to make sure that we take control of," he added.

Following the defeat, Bangladesh Cricket Board president Tamim Iqbal held an extended meeting with the players and team management in the dressing room, with discussions continuing late into the night. Reports suggested Tamim had expressed dissatisfaction with the team's direction, but Simmons characterized the president's message as an appeal for greater effort and responsibility.

"The message [from Tamim] is to keep working hard, keep trying to make sure and understand that we're representing Bangladesh and we're representing how many millions of people and everybody's looking for us to be successful and I think that was the main message from him," Simmons said.