Bangladesh won in Darwin and were bowled out for 64 in Mackay, and Afghanistan get them next in Abu Dhabi
Rahmat Shah leads Afghanistan in a Test for the first time against a Bangladesh side that beat Australia in August, with the head-to-head record level at one win each.
Oct 9, 2026
Afghanistan and Bangladesh start a one-off Test at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday, 9 October. It is only the third Test between them, and they have won one each.
It is also the first time Afghanistan have hosted Bangladesh in a Test, and the first Test for Rahmat Shah as Afghanistan’s full-time captain. He took over in July after Hashmatullah Shahidi stepped down, and Shahidi is in the squad as a batter.
Bangladesh’s strange August
Bangladesh arrive as favourites, and with reason. In August they beat Australia by nine wickets in Darwin, bowling them out for 198 and making 426 in reply. It was their first Test win in Australia. Najmul Hossain Shanto’s side went to Mackay nine days later with a chance of a series win in Australia.
They lost inside two days. Mitchell Starc took ten wickets in the match, Bangladesh were bowled out for 64 and 95, and Australia won by an innings and 51 runs. Afghanistan will be hoping for the Mackay version: a side good enough to win in Australia that can still fall apart in a session.
There is plenty of Test experience in their batting, with Shanto, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz all in the squad, and Taijul Islam is there for the spin. Hasan Mahmud, who took nine wickets in the two Tests in Australia, leads a seam attack with Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and Shoriful Islam.
Afghanistan’s last Test was a hiding
Afghanistan have not played a Test since June, and it went about as badly as one can. India beat them by an innings and 300 runs in New Chandigarh, the biggest innings win in India’s history, with Manav Suthar taking 6 for 33 on debut. They were bowled out for 152 and 112.
They are also without Rashid Khan, who has been advised not to play Tests and has not played one since January 2025. That leaves the wrist-spin to Qais Ahmad and Khalil Gurbaz, with the left-arm spin of Zia-ur-Rehman. The selectors went to domestic cricket for the seam, recalling Yamin Ahmadzai after 42 first-class wickets at 12.73.
One win each so far
The two earlier Tests could hardly have been more different. In Chattogram in 2019, Afghanistan won by 224 runs with Rashid, then the captain, taking 11 wickets in the match. In Mirpur in 2023 Bangladesh won by 546 runs, their biggest Test win and the third-largest by runs in all Test cricket. Rashid had been rested for that one. Shanto made a hundred in each innings.
Shanto is the obvious man to watch again. For Afghanistan, a lot rests on Rahmat himself, in a batting order that India bowled out twice in New Chandigarh.
I think Bangladesh win this, and they should. They have the deeper batting and they beat Australia in August. Mackay is just as recent, though, and that is Afghanistan’s opening. To take it they need their batters to bat long, which they could not manage once against India in June, and the last time they faced Bangladesh without Rashid they lost by 546 runs.