Energetic Tigers to take on high flying Afghanistan
BCB
|| CF DESK ||
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Bangladesh will kick off their Asia Cup campaign against Afghanistan today at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The Tigers will be wary of a high-flying Afghan side that destroyed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their first match.
Tiger poster boy Shakib al Hasan was appointed captain earlier this month, following Bangladesh's troubles in the shortest format since the T20 World Cup last year.
Bangladesh won only two of the ten matches played following the World Cup. Among the setbacks was their first bilateral T20I series loss to lower-ranked Zimbabwe.
Shakib previously stated that nothing can be changed overnight, but Bangladesh would strive to play the format as it should be played.
The new T20 captain pointed out at scoring at a faster pace, which Bangladesh lacked to remain a vulnerable side in the shortest format.
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As Shakib begins his third term as T20 captain, he will also play his 100th match in this format, becoming only the third Bangladeshi after former captain Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim.
He is already the highest wicket-taker (121 wickets) in T20 format but batting-wise he finds himself second among the Bangladeshi batters with 2,010 runs, behind Mahmudullah. He needs just 61 runs to topple the former skipper as highest run-getter of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh had injuries to major players like Liton Das, Hasan Mahmud, and Nurul Hasan prior to the competition, leaving a significant gap in their opening position.
The team management has already indicated that Anamul Haque and Mohammad Naim will be used as openers, despite the fact that both are not known to be great accelerators in T20 cricket.
Bangladesh have to look after Fazalhaq Farooqi, who was a standout performer for Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka.
His opening burst blasted away the top order, and he concluded with 3 for 11, the type of spell
Bangladesh are used to seeing from Farooqi in the ODI and T20I series in Chattogram and Dhaka earlier this year. His self-esteem must be skyrocketing after the Sri Lanka demolition project.
The match starts at 8pm Bangladesh Time and will be aired live on Bangladesh Television, Gazi TV, T Sports, Nagorik TV and Star Sports 1.
![Shoaib Malik [L] and Rishad Hossain](https://cricfrenzy.com/public/storage/images/4-2025/cf_HvFVz9L8.jpg)
