SHARJAH: Bangladesh will be aiming to improve their ordinary T20 record against a confident Afghanistan side in the Asia Cup here on Tuesday.

Afghanistan pacers and batsmen alike blew away the Sri Lankan batting in the opening game.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, will be playing their tournament opener. The Shakib Al Hasan-led side will be aiming to improve their recent record in the shortest format, having won just two games out of 13 since the World Cup last year.Afghanistan pacers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq had broken the backbone of Sri Lanka batting and their batters had chased down the 105-run target in 10.1 overs.

Speaking ahead of the game, Bang­la­desh all-rounder Mehidy Hasan said his team would like to respond to Dasun Shanaka’s claim on the field. Shanaka rated Afgha­nistan higher than Bangladesh.

“I don’t want to make a comment that this team is good and this team is bad. I think good and bad are proved in the field. A good team can lose if they play badly on that specific day and similarly a bad team can win if they play a good game of cricket,” he said.

“We will meet in the field and at that end of the day the good team will win the match and what I feel is that we have to prove it in the field because if we play well certainly everyone will know who is a good team and who is a bad team so instead of predicting before I think it is important to play well on the field,” said Hasan.

“Look the first match is very important for any tournament because it will dictate how far we will go and what cricket we are going to play because it will set the tone of the team,” he said.

He said the first game against Afghanistan holds a lot of impor­tance.

“If it is a spinning wicket it will be good considering both teams have quality spinners but what I feel that is the side that will perform well with the bat will have a better chance to win the game,” Hasan added.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2022