Afghanistan wait on Rashid’s fitness as they eye return to winning ways

Overview

Bangladesh v Afghanistan
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Tuesday, 24 September; 06:30pm local, 12:30pm GMT

Head to head, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are at a stalemate in this tri-series. Afghanistan came out on top of the first encounter by 25 runs; Bangladesh prevailed in the second one by four wickets. With two evenly-matched teams clashing for the title, it should make for a cracking tri-series final.

Afghanistan have been beaten twice now, on successive occasions, after their world record 12-match winning streak was broken by Zimbabwe. They are also sweating on the fitness of their captain and main bowling weapon Rashid Khan, after he pulled up with an injured left hamstring the last time these two sides met.

Bangladesh were made to work hard for their first win in the series, but the last two have been relatively more comfortable. Their batting has been a bit of a let down, with only Mahmudullah accumulating runs in triple digits for the series. Their spinners, too, have surprisingly not played as big a role thus far. Right-arm pacer Mohammad Saifuddin has been excellent so far, picking up seven wickets at 13.71, including a four-wicket haul. Can the slower bowlers step up and support him in the final to rein in Afghanistan?

Remember the last time

Off-spinner Afif Hossain’s 2/9 in three overs limited Afghanistan to 138/7, before Shakib’s unbeaten 45-ball 70 helped Bangladesh recover from early blows to chase the target down in 19 overs, when the two sides last met on Saturday, 21 September.

What they said

Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh captain: "If you look at the last few months, the way we've performed in T20 is not up to the mark. We needed to improve, and we’ve been working on it. This win will give us motivation, and a lot of confidence going into the final."

Nazim Jar Abdur Rahim Zai, Afghanistan team manager: "I cannot say that he [Rashid] will be available [for the final]. He is doing well and let's see what's happening. We will have two or three days for recovery. I hope it's not that serious because he is our captain and main player, and we will monitor him tomorrow and the day after."

Conditions

It’s going to be an overcast day in Dhaka, with a 50% chance of rain through the day. The chances reduce substantially around the match’s start time, but don’t be surprised if we have an interruption or two.