T20 series: Bangladesh aim to inflict whitewash on Afghanistan

Bangladesh vowed to come all guns blazing to win the two-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series when they take on Afghanistan in the second and series ending match at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

The match will start at 3:00pm and will be aired live on Gazi TV and T Sports channels, reports BSS.

The Tigers are leading the series with 1-0 following their 61-run victory against the visiting Afghans in the first match. A victory in the second match, will not only give them the series but also will fulfill their aspiration to inflict a whitewash on Afghanistan in any format of the cricket.

Bangladesh earlier closed in on sweeping the recent ODI series but unfortunately they lost the third match by seven wickets to be left satisfied with 2-1 victory.

A T20 whitewash would also help them take a revenge of being swept by Afghanistan in three-match T20 series in their adopted venue Hyderabad in India in 2018.

A victory will, moreover, see Bangladesh level in terms of win-loss ratio in the encounters between two teams. The two teams so far played seven matches of which Afghanistan won four and Bangladesh won three.

When so many things can be achieved with just one victory, Bangladesh couldn’t be relaxed against a team, who are touted more accomplished team than them, at least in the T20 format.

Bangladesh’s spin coach Rangana Herath, however, made it clear how hungry they are to win this series.

“This is a two-match series. If we want to win the series, we need to win the next game. I don’t think we’re resting anybody and will be going with our best eleven,” Herath said a pre-match media conference on Friday.

Bangladesh prepared a pace-friendly wicket in Chattogram for the ODI series and became successful in executing their plan well.

But there was general sentiment that Afghanistan would have the edge over Bangladesh in Mirpur venue given their superior spin attack since here generally spinners get the advantage.

The Tigers will be happy to prove that notion a wrong one. Mirpur, being a slow surface, assisted spinners but Bangladeshi spinners -- Nasum Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan -- outsmarted Afghans much-vaunted spin attack comprised of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

This is the thing that will boost Bangladesh further to win the series and break Afghans dominance in this format.

“Playing Mujeeb throughout the BPL gave us some advantages. At the same time, we have specific plan against Rashid and Nabi, and the important thing was that we could execute our plan well against them and so we became successful,” Bangladesh batter Liton Das, who played a 44 ball-60 runs knock in the first T20 said.

Liton’s knock helped Bangladesh post a decent 155-8 and then led by Nasum Ahmed’s 4-10, the hosts dismissed Afghans for just 94 runs. Shakib Al Hasan took 2-18.

“From the start, I think after two down, there was a good partnership with Liton. They were chasing 156 and it’s not easy with our bowling lineup. Credit should go to Liton, Nasum, Shoriful, Shakib and Mustafizur as well. As a unit we did a great job,” Rangana Herath said, underlining the importance of playing as a unit.

The Tigers so far played 124 matches in this format. They won 44 and lost 78 while two matches fetched no result.

Wicket-keeper batter Mushfiqur Rahim was declared fit to play the second and final T20 against Afghanistan as he recovered fully from his thumb injury.

Mushfiqur Rahim injured his thumb of the right hand while batting in practice, the day before the start of the T20 series. That injury knocked him out of the first T20 which Bangladesh won by 61 runs.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) physio Bayzid Ul Islam declared Mushfiqur fit in a video message on Friday. He said that the experienced batter is fit for the second T20.

“After the ball hit Mushfiqur’s thumb two days ago, we did an X-ray. The X-ray report did not show any fractures or anything bad, the X-rays came back normal,” Bayzid said.

“That’s why we kept him under observation. He batted today (Friday), threw-down without any discomfort. He also played spin and pace bowling. He’s fine now. He will be able to play in tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) match. ‘

The team management did not take any risk with him in the first T20 even though no problem was found in the X-ray.

After warming up in practice on Wednesday, Mushfiqur went to indoor for batting practice. There he was hit on the finger by Shoriful Islam.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan Sohan was rushed to the team as cover for Mushfiqur. However, he didn’t play in the first match. With Mushfiqur recovering, there is no chance of him playing in his second match.

But the question raised whether Bangladesh would break the winning combination to accommodate Mushfiqur in the second game.

There is general sentiment that out of form Naim Sheikh will be dropped to make a way for Mushfiqur even though there was no official confirmation.

Squad

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah Riyad (Captain), Liton Kumar Das, Munim Shahriar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shohidul Islam, Naim Sheikh.

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Ghani, Darwish Rasooli, Mohammad Nabi (c), Najib Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Nijat Masood, Fareed Ahmad Mailk.