Last chance saloon at U19 World Cup

Australia faces a must-win match against Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi today, knowing a loss will dash their ICC U19 Cricket World Cup hopes.

Australia's tally for the tournament reads 1-1 after going down to Afghanistan by 36 runs on Monday. 

QUICK SINGLE: U19s in shock loss to Afghanistan

Queensland all-rounder James Bazley was best for the Aussies with 54* from 36 balls and 3/69. 

Cricket Australia's national talent manager Greg Chappell says he can understand why people on the other side of the world might be getting a bit carried away after the loss.

"We've got to be careful not to over-react in these situations," Chappell told AAP from Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

"You blokes (in the media) are the worst of the lot. You tend to love these sorts of stories and make them perhaps bigger than they are.

"This is about helping them develop. Australian cricket is not going to win everything and it's not about winning.

"It's a matter of exposing our best of the next generation to as wide a variety of experiences as they possibly can.

"It was always going to be a challenge because we knew they'd have five spin bowlers who are all fairly experienced and many of them have played in the Afghan national team.

"It wasn't as big a shock to us as it might be to people reading it from a distance.

"The Afghanistan national team qualified for the 2015 World Cup, did it not?"

Asked if he understood how Aussie fans might be taken aback at the result, Chappell went on: "Those that don't follow the cricket closely could easily have that feeling.

"But Afghanistan cricket is a lot stronger than people understand," he said.

"A lot of them have experienced a lot of everything."

Chappell says every game of cricket for Afghanistan is a celebration.

"I'm sure a lot of these guys have probably been in refugee camps in Pakistan and playing a lot of cricket in that part of the world," he said.

"There's a lot of influence from Pakistan.

"These guys have played a lot more cricket than our guys have.

"Our kids are coming out of school cricket."

War-torn Afghanistan, which doesn't have Test-playing status, is now locked in a tense battle with Australia and Bangladesh for a top-two finish in Pool B to advance to the quarter-finals.

Australia is currently placed second, only ahead of Afghanistan with a superior net run rate, so needs a win to stay in the finals hunt.

Australia began the tournament with a 101-run victory over Namibia, led by Victorian opener Matt Short.

QUICK SINGLE: Australia chase two on the trot

"We didn't want it to come to that but we've got to go out and beat Bangladesh and even then it's down to the run rate, so it will be a strange day," Australian coach Graeme Hick said. 

"But we know what we have to do."

Hick said the Australian team had the ability to push far into the tournament, but needed to improve their execution.

"We've got a strong squad and we pride ourselves on that," Hick said.

"Our energy's been good, but just a bit of execution with the ball and being able to rotate the strike a bit better than we are."

Australia will play Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi today, while Afghanistan will take on Namibia, to decide which teams go through to the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup quarter finals.