The three-match One-Day International series against Afghanistan, which is starting today, is Bangladesh National Cricket Team’s final series before the Asia Cup, and the Tigers are viewing this as an opportunity to work on their game ahead of the tournament.
Bangladesh last played Afghanistan in a bilateral ODI series last year, when they won 2-1. All three matches of the series, like this time around, were played in Chattogram.
However, the context of the series is massively different as those were part of the qualification process for the 2023 World Cup, while this series, for both teams, is part of their preparation for the showcase tournament.
Bangladesh still need to solve a few of their headaches, especially with a backup opener and a number seven. The squad announced for the series, seemingly focuses on that matter as Mohammad Naim and Afif Hossain have been included.
And as the Tigers’ team management is eyeing an opportunity to even out those rough edges in this series.
“We will try to give everybody a chance in this series. We will try to give Naim some game time before the World Cup. Because I don’t believe in playing someone directly at a big event.
“We also have Afif and we have the urge to play him. We have set an XI, and you will get an idea of which path we are going on once you see that. Everybody wins to win the Asia Cup and the World Cup. If we have the opportunity, we will play them. If not, they will have to be prepared for the opportunity,” Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal said on Tuesday.
He also guaranteed that the Bangladesh pace attack will be different in all three matches, meaning neither of the four pacers included in the squad – Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, and Ebadot Hossain – are likely to play all three matches.
“There might be changes in the pace bowling department. We can play different combinations based on our plans. It depends on how we view the pitch tomorrow (today). However, it is guaranteed that the pace attack will have different combinations in the three matches,” Tamim said.
While they are eyeing this series as part of their preparations for the upcoming tournaments, Tamim, in no way, was taking the opposition lightly as he believed playing against the Afghans would serve as ideal preparation.
“Afghanistan are a very strong white-ball side. I’m not expecting anything less than the series last year. Of course, we would want to win the series. Maybe I would want it 3-0 rather than 2-1 like last year. But if we want to win against them, we will have to play our best cricket. It’s great that we will play against them thrice here and once in the Asia Cup before the World Cup,” he said.
In the last series, Tamim suffered against Afghan left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi and thus seemed aware of the pace threat of the visitors too.
“In the last series, their pacers did better than their spinners. That is why we are not only thinking about their spinners. Their whole attack is good. We will have to bring our A game to win,” the opener added.
Bangladesh might bring in a few changes to their XI from their last ODI against Ireland as Afif may slot in at number seven, while Taskin Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan will be back in the XI, meaning the pace trio is likely to be of Taskin, Hasan, and Ebadot, although Mustafiz might play instead of the latter.
The match starts at 2 PM at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
