'Quality of our spinners shone through' - Afghanistan coach Trott pleased after opening win

Bangladesh have found the Afghanistan spinners the most troublesome in ODIs in the last ten years.

Since July 2013, Afghanistan's spinners have the most wickets (50) - and the best average (26.02) - of all teams against Bangladesh in the format. That includes 5 for 69 for the trio of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi in the first ODI on Wednesday. They combined to bowl 24 overs, and conceded runs at an economy of less than three per over.

Although they made the most of the variable bounce on offer at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Bangladesh's batters also didn't do themselves any favours. While Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto were out to soft dismissals when they were starting to look comfortable, Mushfiqur Rahim let a Rashid half-tracker slip through his legs.

"Our seamers didn't bowl well with the new ball, but then our spinners were excellent," Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said. "We didn't expect the wicket to have as much uneven bounce as it did. It is surprising. Normally here in Chattogram, it goes through a little bit more. I think we adjusted well. We read the conditions. We played some good cricket.

"Today's wicket helped them [Afghanistan spinners] a little bit, but they have some good skills to put pressure on the Bangladesh batters. A lot of these [Bangladesh] batters would have been confident from the Test match [last month, which Bangladesh won by 546 runs]. But the quality of our spinners shone through on a wicket that we thought would seam more than it spun for us."

Trott highlighted the experience of his spin attack, which helped them switch from T20Is to ODIs. He said they knew exactly when to bowl in an attacking manner, and when to be a little defensive.

"I don't think it is too dissimilar nowadays [bowling in T20Is and ODIs]. Batsmen have an attacking mindset in both formats," Trott said. "Spinners have to be clever. They are allowed four fielders out till the 40th over. That's when they usually bowl. They sometimes bowl in the powerplay [too]. So they have to figure out how they attack at the right times, but also how to defend on wickets where there's not much assistance."

But the one-off Test between Bangladesh and Afghanistan featured none of these three spinners, and Bangladesh had feasted on an inexperienced attack to post 382 and 425 for 4 declared.

Bangladesh now have to face Afghanistan in the two remaining ODIs of the ongoing series, but also at least once in the upcoming Asia Cup in August-September, and then, in their tournament opener at the ODI World Cup, where they face each other in Dharamsala.

How do Bangladesh try and limit the damage before the big games come around? Towhid Hridoy, the batter who hit his third ODI half-century in the first game - which was only his seventh in the format - said that individual batters would have to figure out their respective ways to counter the spinners.

"It [Bangladesh] is a mature team. They have been serving the national team for a long time," Hridoy said. "Nobody has to be told anything new. We will get out of this by thinking about it individually. We back everyone in the dressing room. We can come back from this position."

Although this was Hridoy's first time facing Rashid, Mujeeb and Nabi at the highest level, he already had some idea about Nabi and Mujeeb because of the BPL.

"This was the first time that I faced Rashid. I have played Mujeeb in Under-19 cricket. We were also in the same team in BPL," Hridoy said. "I played Nabi bhai in the BPL. I think they are the best spin combination in the world. You can play spin better against any team after you do well against them. I was talking to Shakib [Al Hasan] bhai about it too. It was a bit challenging. We have to do better than we did today [in the first ODI]."

Hridoy was hoping that Bangladesh's lower order would come to their rescue, even as their top four of Tamim Iqbal, Litton, Shanto and Shakib threw away settled starts. He pointed to how Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz had dug Bangladesh out of a deep hole against Afghanistan last year, taking them to the successful chase of 216 without any further losses from a situation of 45 for 6.

"We have played against their bowling before," Hridoy said. "Someone or the other stood up. In the last series, Miraz bhai and Afif played well. We also had a feeling that someone would do the job [in the first ODI]. We didn't get a good partnership from the lower order. I am hopeful that in the next game, we will do better in a similar situation."