The curtain of the Asia Cup went up last Saturday. And tomorrow (Tuesday) the Bangladesh team is entering the field against Afghanistan in their first match in the group stage. The match will start at 8 pm Bangladesh time at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The match will be telecast live on Bangladesh Television (BTV), T-Spoters and Nagrik TV.
Each team gets a chance to play two matches in the group stage. This is Bangladesh’s first match in ‘B Group’. Shakib Al Hasan’s team will take the field against Sri Lanka in their second match. Meanwhile, Afghanistan entered the field in the opening match. In that match, Nabi-Rashid defeated the Lankans by a big margin of 8 wickets.
Bangladesh is one step ahead of Afghanistan in the international T20 ranking published by the highest governing body of cricket. Bangladesh’s position in the ranking. Rating points 226. On the other hand, Afghanistan is ranked 10th with 219 rating points.
However, despite being ahead in the ranking, Afghanistan is ahead of Bangladesh in face-to-face confrontation. So far, the two teams have played against each other a total of eight times. Where the Bangladesh team won in only three matches. On the other hand, Afghanistan won the remaining five matches.
Meanwhile, the world’s best all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is leading the T20 team of Bangladesh for the third term with this match. Shakib was given the responsibility to turn around after a bad performance in the last T20 World Cup. After the World Cup, Bangladesh has won only 2 out of 10 matches so far.
Meanwhile, the bad news for the Bangladesh team is that Liton Das, Hasan Mahmud and Nurul Hasan Sohan were injured before the tournament. Bangladesh will have to suffer Liton’s absence in the opening round. Mohammad Naeem Sheikh can be seen opening with Enamul Haque Vijay in the Asia Cup.
Bangladesh team:
Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Enamul Haque Vijay, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Afif Hossain, Mosaddeq Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad, Sheikh Mehdi Hasas, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mostafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Ibadat Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Naeem Sheikh and Taskin Ahmed.
Afghanistan Team:
Mohammad Nabi (captain), Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Asmatullah Omarzai, Farid Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Fazlhaq Farooqui, Hasmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujib ur Rahman, Naveen Ul Haque, Noor Ahmad, Rashid Khan and Samiullah Shenwari.
(29 August/MM)