In their debut encounter of the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament against Afghanistan on Tuesday, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan chose to bat first after winning the toss.
Star all-arounder Shakib, who is participating in his 100th T20 international game, comes back to coach the squad that has only won two of its previous 15 T20 games.
The 35-year-old stated that his squad anticipates Afghanistan, who crushed Sri Lanka in the tournament opener, to play challenging cricket.
Shakib remarked at the coin toss, “It will be difficult for Afghanistan, therefore that is what we will seek to achieve.”Our bowling is largely covered since we have three seamers and two spinners. In the T20 format, Afghanistan is a very strong team. We have done our best to prepare for their bowlers, and we want to demonstrate our abilities.”
Afghanistan defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in Dubai last week, and they need a victory to advance from Group B’s knockout stage.
The team’s spirit is strong, and the captain, Mohammad Nabi, remarked, “We want to play the same manner we did in the last game. It was amazing.”
“Perhaps today’s pitch will be a little low. We’ll try to limit them to a small number.”
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Karim Janat, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (capt),
Bangladesh: Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Naim, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Afif Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), and
Asif Yaqoob (PAK), and Jayaraman Madanagopal, umpires (IND)
Anil Chaudhary, TV umpire (IND)
Referee of the game: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
