Rehearsal time for Bangladesh, Afghanistan ahead of tri-series final
Bangladesh v Afghanistan
Match 6, T20 tri-series
Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong
Saturday, 21 September; 06:30pm local, 12:30pm GMT
Afghanistan's run of consecutive T20I wins was finally ended at 12 by Zimbabwe, who sent Hamilton Masakadza off with their first victory in the tri-series on Friday, 20 September. While qualification for the final is not riding on the results of Saturday's game, Rashid Khan's men will be keen to extend their hold on Bangladesh.
Zimbabwe won their final match of the tri-series against Afghanistan as Hamilton Masakadza finished his international career in style!
— ICC (@ICC) September 21, 2019
Report 👇 https://t.co/lCDhN0mtVM
They made three changes against Zimbabwe, including handing Fazal Niazai a debut, to test their bench strength. Focus will be on their top order, including opener Hazratullah Zazai, who haven't been able to post strong scores, leaving the middle order to do the heavy lifting.
Bangladesh have shuffled their side so far, and may need to do so again. Leg-spinner Aminul Islam impressed on debut, but picked up an injury in the previous game, for which he required stitches on his left hand. The fact that the seniors, led by Mahmudullah, stood up when it counted will come as a welcome sign for the hosts.
Remember the last time
The experienced Mohammad Nabi and Asghar Afghan rescued their side from 40/4 to 164/6 against Bangladesh in the teams' first encounter in the series. Nabi's 54-ball 84* included seven sixes. Shakib Al Hasan was the only bowler to escape punishment, having got two early wickets. Four wickets for Mujeeb Ur Rahman sealed a 25-run win.
🗣️ "Our next step will be to put up a better performance to win against Afghanistan, which would give us more confidence ahead of the final."
— ICC (@ICC) September 20, 2019
Mahmudullah's take on the final league match between 🇧🇩 and 🇦🇫 before the tri-series final 👇https://t.co/SveJmjJvkw
What they said
Mahmudullah, Bangladesh all-rounder: "[Afghanistan] are ranked higher than us, and we need to keep that in mind ... I think we are more capable in skill-hitting rather than power-hitting."
Rashid Khan, Afghanistan captain:"The main idea behind testing bench strength was to prepare the team for the World Cup. You have different players for different formats, and they have their mindset set for the format. So that's good for the captain."
Conditions
Rain is forecast for the day and could put a dampener on proceedings.
