Shaky Tigers up against charged up Afghans

Bangladesh’s first ever defeat to Afghanistan in the Twenty20 format, which came in the first game of a three-match series in Delhi back in June of 2018, elicited three types of response in the cricket fraternity back home.

Some were angry at the team for losing to a novice team at the international stage. Some were hardly surprised, acknowledging that Afghanistan is a better team than Bangladesh in the shortest format of the game while an optimistic few tried to scratch off the defeat as an accident.

But by the time the series ended, which Bangladesh lost 0-3, everyone joined the second group, accepting that the Afghans are a better T20 team, at least outside of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and Afghanistan are set to once again faceoff in T20s, in the Tigers’ campaign opener in the ongoing Asia Cup on Tuesday.

The match, which will take place at the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium, will be the ninth T20I between Afghanistan and Bangladesh. In the previous eight matches, Bangladesh has won thrice while lost the remaining five games.

Bangladesh is also yet to defeat Afghanistan in a T20I outside of home.

The match will begin at 8:00pm Bangladesh Standard Time and will be televised live on GTV.

Afghanistan has made a blazing start to the tournament, thrashing Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their Group B match.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, are going through one of their worst ever spells in T20Is.

The Tigers have won just two of their last 17 T20Is and are coming into the tournament on the back off losing a T20I series in Zimbabwe 2-1.

This will be Shakib Al Hasan’s first assignment after being named skipper in T20s once again. Aftertaking charge, the all-rounder didn’t promised any miracles but hinted about making some changes to the team competition, in a bid to free Bangladesh from their insipid playing style in T20s.

Shakib is likely to have the power to implement his desired changes as the Tigers are going into this tournament without a head coach.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has recently relieved Russell Domingo from the T20 format. But the South African will continue his work as the Tigers head coach in Tests and ODIs.

BCB has also appointed Sridharan Sriram as the team’s technical consultant in T20I. Sriram has experience of working with the Australia national team and a couple of IPL franchises, where teams play stat-driven cricket, something we haven’t seen a lot of in Bangladesh.

There are questions about what the Bangladesh team will look like against Afghanistan. There are only three openers in the squad, of which Anamul Haque is almost certain to play.

But Parvez Hossain Emon and Mohammad Naim, the other openers in the squad, might not get picked. In their place, the team could send Mahedi Hasan or Mehidy Hasan Miraz to open.

Even Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim’s name have come up for the opening position.

Mohammd Saifuddin has returned to the squad after last year’s T20 World Cup while Sabbir Rahman has made a comeback after almost three years. Will and how they would be included in the playing XI is still unclear.

Afghanistan, on the other hand, have arguably the best spin attack in the tournament and are packed with big-hitters. Rashid Khan, one of the biggest names in franchise T20 cricket, is Afghanistan team’s trump card and they are being led by the veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi.

With a comprehensive win already in the bank, Afghanistan will enter the match relived and charged up. While the Tigers know that a defeat against Afghanistan would turn their match against Sri Lanka a knockout fixture, something they would very much like to avoid.

From an impartial point of view, Afghanistan seemingly have the edge over Bangladesh and are more likely to end on the winning side. And from the point of view of Bangladeshi fans, this match could be the beginning of a shift in playing style, something this team has needed for a very long time.