Bangladesh Test and T20I vice-captain Mahmudullah Riyad has stated that he expects captain Shakib Al Hasan to give them insights on how to handle T20I sensation Rashid Khan in their upcoming T20I series against the Afghans.

Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan are currently playing together as team-mates in the Indian Premier League. They will soon face each other as opponents when Bangladesh take on the Afghans in India and Mahmudullah hopes that the batsmen will be able to read the leg-spinner's mindset.

‘Shakib and Rashid have played together [for Sunrisers Hyderabad]. [So] we will obviously sit with Shakib [and discuss] how to handle him. We will try to understand Rashid’s mindset. We hope that we will get every information about Rashid,’ Mahmudullah told the media.

He revealed that the batsmen speak about Rashid Khan and make plans on how they could play him in the T20I series. He, however, warned that the batsmen won’t hesitate to smash the ball should it be in the zone.

‘We speak about Rashid after finishing our net sessions. We talk about how we could play him or the gameplan against him. He is one of the best bowlers in the world right now.’

‘We will play cautiously but we will also hit the balls that are in the zone, regardless of who the bowler is.’

Afghanistan are currently ranked 8^th in T20Is while Bangladesh linger at 10 but Mahmudullah affirmed that it doesn’t worry him since Bangladesh have done well in their recent T20I endeavours.

‘Afghanistan are above us in the [T20I] rankings but there is nothing to worry about. Every T20 match is important for us and we take it as a challenge. There were some doubts on us regarding this format but I think it has cut down a little bit.’