Asia Cup: Bangladesh win toss, opt to bat against Afghanistan in must-win contest

Abu Dhabi [UAE], September 16 (ANI): Bangladesh captain Litton Das won the toss and opted to bat against Afghanistan in the seventh match of the ongoing Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

The tournament has played host to one-sided contests as of now. Afghanistan and Bangladesh will fight for the two qualification spots for Super 4 in Group B. The Bangla Tigers kicked off their campaign with a victory over Hong Kong, but perished against Sri Lanka.

Afghanistan, which has played just one game, registered a commanding win over Hong Kong and will look to keep its winning momentum intact. It is a must-win game for Bangladesh if they want to stay alive in the race for the Super 4.

After winning the toss, Bangladesh skipper Litton Das explained his decision to bat first and said, “We’ll bat first. All boys are excited for this game; this is a must-win. The wicket looks a bit on the slower side; 160 would be a good total. It looks like a good batting surface, but a bit on the slower side. The mood in the camp is good; we have had a good last few months. Can’t think too much about the previous game. We have four changes – Taskin is coming back. We have three spinners and two pacers.”

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan would have preferred to bat first but didn’t dwell too much on it and said, “Would have loved to bat first as well, but in T20 it doesn’t really matter. Guys had a good off for three days and we got a good practice session. Our strength is our bowling unit, especially spin bowling. We still need to bowl well as a unit and hit the right areas consistently. We need to come out with a positive mindset. Body feels great, looking forward to enjoying. We go with the same team that played against Hong Kong.”

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Saif Hassan, Litton Das(w/c), Towhid Hridoy, Mahedi Hasan, Nurul Hasan, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed

Afghanistan (Playing XI): Sediqullah Atal, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan(c), Noor Ahmad, AM Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi. (ANI)

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