Inspired Afghans confident ahead of Dhaka Test

In the only Test between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, held in Chattogram in 2019, the Afghans came out victorious by 224 runs as the Tigers crumbled against their spin attack.

Four years on, the sides are set to meet again in red-ball cricket, and their skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, ahead of the Test starting on June 14, said that their win in 2019 is giving them confidence this time around.

“It’s (the win in 2019) inspiring us because we played only one Test here and we won that. So, that gave us a lot of confidence and we will try to start it from there in the next game also. And our aim will be to play positively and take that confidence with us from the last game,” he said in a press conference on Monday.

Afghanistan are without their premier leg-spinner Rashid Khan but their skipper has confidence in the bowlers in their squad and compared the leggie’s absence to Shakib Al Hasan’s absence, who is missing out on the Test due to an injury.

“I think that Shakib is rested and Rashid is also rested. But as I mentioned before, we have good quality players and we have good other options to win the game for us,” Shahidi said.