Experienced Bangladesh take on new-look Afghanistan

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, first T20I

Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka

3 March, 03:00 PM Local

After winning the ODI series 2-1, a confident Bangladesh side will be gearing up to put in a similar dominant showing in the T20Is against Afghanistan. While teams prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup later this year, both Afghanistan and Bangladesh have taken a different approach to prepare themselves for the mega event.

Bangladesh have dropped some of their senior players from the team following their poor performance in the 2021 T20 World Cup and having lost their last eight straight T20Is. And one of their most experienced players Tamim Iqbal will also be missing as he has opted out of T20Is for six months.

But the team are continuing to rely primarily on experienced players, and with Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan back, Bangladesh will fancy their team's chances.

The Tigers will continue with the same pace trio who did the job for them in the ODI series. With Mustafizur Rahman leading the attack it will be interesting to see how Bangladesh utilise the other two pacers, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam.

Afghanistan have opted to experiment, bringing in some new players into a young squad. Mohammad Shahzad, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hassan and Hashmatullah Shahidi have made way for some of the newcomers like Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai and Nijat Masood.

With plenty of young players in the squad, the pressure will be on captain Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadaran to set the standard. And while Afghanistan's spin trio of Rashid Kahn, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Nabi remains a foundation of strength, their new-look pace attack will be interesting to watch.

Although Afghanistan lost the ODI series, their players produced some impactful performances. Left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi has been one of the biggest positives for Afghanistan, while Rahmanullah Gurbaz with a century in the last ODI will be a key player to watch in the T20Is.

REMEMBER THE LAST TIME

The last time the two teams played in a T20I was in September 2019, when Bangladesh hosted a tri-nation series (Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe). The teams played each other twice before meeting in the final. Afghanistan won the first encounter by 25 runs and Bangladesh won their second encounter by 4 wickets, but relentless rain on the day of the final meant that the match was washed out and the trophy shared.

Overall the two teams have played six T20Is against each other, of which Bangladesh have only a couple of wins compared to Afghanistan’s four victories.

WHAT THEY SAID

Mahmud Ullah, Bangladesh T20I skipper: "As a batting unit we have to consistently get 150-160 runs so that we have a chance in the game against whichever opponent we play. We're discussing these things and working things out. Hopefully, we will find a way."