Bangladesh will start their Asia Cup campaign Tuesday with the match against Afghanistan who are flying high after beating Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the event opener.
Despite being a more experienced side than Afghanistan, Bangladesh are far behind them in the shortest format of the game.
The Afghans lost a series earlier this month against Ireland, but they came back strongly against Sri Lanka to make a flying start to the Asia Cup. Their pacers ripped through the Sri Lankan batting order.
However, Bangladesh all-rounder Mehidy Hasan said they are not tagging Afghanistan as a bad or good team. “We are looking forward to proving our mettle in the field.”
In the first match of the Asia Cup, Afghan pace duo Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq destroyed Sri Lanka’s batting.
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Chasing 105 runs, Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz won the match in 10.1 overs.
And in the absence of Liton Das, Bangladesh might go with Anamul Haque and Mohammad Naim as the openers.
Naim was axed earlier from the T20 team. Now he is back after hitting a century in a 50-over match for Bangladesh A team against the West Indies A.
Mohammad Saifuddin and Sabbir Rahman, who were out of international cricket for a long time, are surprising inclusions in the playing XI.
However, Bangladesh will heavily rely on Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim.
With this match against Afghanistan, Shakib will become the third Bangladeshi to play 100 T20s after Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur.
The match will begin at 8pm Tuesday and will be telecast live on T-Sports.
Probable Bangladesh XI
Mohammad Naim, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Afif Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah Riyad, Sabbir Rahman, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Nasum Ahmed, and Mustafizur Rahman
Source: United News of Bangladesh