Bangladesh refused to give up the hopes of playing the Asia Cup Super Four as they vow to hit back by beating Afghanistan in their second and last match of the group phase on Sunday at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
The all important match for Tigers starts at 3.30 PM (Bangladesh Time) and will be aired live in Gazi TV and T Sports.
The Tigers have been in cornered situation at the moment following their five-wicket defeat to co-host Sri Lanka in the first game. In a format, where every team will play two matches in group phase, there is always a chance to go to the next phase.
Sri Lanka itself became the Asia Cup champion last year after losing the first game. So regardless of what happened next, Bangladesh would first beat Afghanistan to give them any chance to move to the Super Four.
If Bangladesh win the match, Afghanistan then must defeat Sri Lanka which by any means will be a tough task for them.
The Afghans however will get a psychological edge because of winning an ODI series by 2-1 in last July at the backyard of Bangladesh. The series was marred by Tamim Iqbal’s retirement drama but Afghanistan played dominating cricket to be the only second team after England to beat Bangladesh at their own den since 2015.
Overall Bangladesh still had the upper-hand over Afghanistan, winning eight and losing six out of 14 matches.
Bangladesh’s shaky batting performance against Sri Lanka however brought the question to the fore whether Tigers have the chance to make a comeback.
Najmul Hossain Shanto who alone scored 89 out of Bangladesh’s 164 all out in 42.4 overs, said his side can still can make a turnaround from this disastrous start.
“We are not thinking about India and Pakistan now. At the moment we are thinking about the Afghanistan game and we have to take preparation after reaching Pakistan and we are hoping to have a good game,” Shanto said.
“We won against them in the last T20 series though we didn’t do well in the ODIs and we are not thinking about the past. We believe if we can play to our potential we will have a good game against Afghanistan. I think we don’t need to think very far rather we should focus on how to do well against Afghanistan.”
Bangladesh have already reached Lahore for their match against Afghanistan and did their practice session. Lahore pitch generally assists the batters, a thing that could make their life easier.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, Naim Sheikh, Shamim Hossain, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Tanzim Hasan Sakib
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Suliman Safi, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
