Bangladesh have won the toss and opted to bat first against Afghanistan in their first match of the Asia Cup in the UAE on Tuesday.
Bangladesh included Mohammad Naim in the playing XI as the opener with Anamul Haque Bijoy. Mushfiqur Rahim will keep the wicket for Bangladesh in the absence of Nurul Hasan Sohan who is out due to an injury. Mohammad Saifuddin is also making a comeback to T20Is after a long gap forced by injury.
While Bangladesh start their campaign with this match, Afghanistan won the first match against Sri Lanka by eight wickets.
Bangladesh have been going through a bad patch in the format. They won only two matches after the last World Cup played in Oman and the UAE.
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The Tigers have made a few changes to their set-up recently. The regular head coach Russell Domingo has been removed from the T20 duties. Bangladesh appointed the former Indian cricketer Sridharan Sriram as the T20 technical consultant, and he is playing the role of the head coach in the Asia Cup.
Shakib Al Hasan made a comeback as the captain with the Asia Cup. He was handed the captaincy right before this T20 event.
With the match against Afghanistan, Shakib is going to become the only third Bangladeshi to play 100th T20Is. Before him, Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim reached the milestone.
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Mohammad Naim, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Afif Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (w), Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi(c), Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Source: United News of Bangladesh