Bangladesh will face mighty Afghanistan in the short version of cricket in their opening Group B match of the ongoing T20 Asia Cup in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday night.
The match is scheduled to begin at 8:00pm and will be telecast live on GTV and Nagorik TV.
In the spotlight: Shakib Al Hasan is Bangladesh's best bet against Afghanistan, or anyone else, for that matter. Returning as the T20I captain after nearly three years, Shakib has a lot on his plate but he is known as someone who invariably manages to bring the best out of himself when under pressure.
On the other hand, Fazalhaq Farooqi was one of Afghanistan's heroes in the match against Sri Lanka. His opening burst blew away the top order, and he finished with 3 for 11, the sort of spell Bangladesh are familiar with from earlier this year - Farooqi was fast, accurate and effective in the ODI and T20I series in Chattogram and Dhaka.
Bangladesh (Probable): Mohammad Naim, Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Afif Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Nasum Ahmed, and Mustafizur Rahman.
Afghanistan (Probable): Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi (capt), Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul