Bangladesh eying T20I series sweep against Afghanistan

BSS, Dhaka :

In a bid to sweep the three-match T20I series, Bangladesh will take on Afghanistan in the third and final match today at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in UAE.
The match starts at 8.30 PM and will be aired live on T Sports and Nagorik TV.
Bangladesh had already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead, following their four-wicket and two-wicket victory in the first two matches.
A victory in the third match will complete a highly successful mission, for which they are craving for, after a disastrous Asia Cup campaign.
Although Bangladesh proved them superior over Afghanistan in the first two matches, their performance was not something that can draw any plaudits.
On both occasions, they experienced batting collapse, keeping them on the threshold of a defeat.
Chasing a modest target of 152 in the first match, they were on course of a facile victory as the opening duo Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan Tamim added 109 runs for the opening stand in just 11 overs.
However, a sensational collapse then came as Bangladesh lost six wickets for nine runs before Nurul Hasan Sohan secured a hard-fought victory.
In second match, they tasted a top order collapse that left them to 24-3 while chasing a victory target of 148. Thanks to a middle order resistance, they regained the control before suffering from another collapse.
Nurul Hasan Sohan came as rescuer yet again to help the side clinch two-wicket victory in the last over.
Jaker Ali Anik, who are leading the side in absence of regular captain Liton Das, was happy to win the series rather thinking about collapse in both matches.
“It feels good. As a team, we’ve played really well in the last two games and we were more clinical,” he said after the second game.
“The bowlers set the tone, the wicket was better, and we showed good character. We had to take our chances because they are quality spinners. We stayed positive and looked for boundaries….”Bangladesh bowlers indeed have been exceptional over the last two years and also kept the side in the contest in Asia Cup too, only to see the batters undermining their effort.
Bangladesh usually don’t believe in keeping a winning squad, evidenced in their tendency to shuffling the squad regularly since the start of this year.
In the first two matches against Afghanistan, they tinkered with the squad and are expected to make some changes for the third match too.
A victory in the third match will also help them take the revenge their whitewash at the hands of Afghanistan back in 2018
Overall the two teams met 15 times in this format with Bangladesh for the first time in leading position in head-to-head battle, winning eight and losing seven.
Bangladesh:
Jaker Ali Anik (Captain), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Patwari, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Rishad Hossain, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Saifuddin and Soumya Sarkar
Afghanistan:
Rashid Khan (Captain), Ibrahim Zadran (Vice-Captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Wicketkeeper), Mohamamd Ishaq (Wicketkeeper), Sediqullah Atal, Wafiullah Tarakhil, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Bashir Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad Malik and Abdullah Ahmadzai.