Asia Cup 2022: Shakib Al Hasan returns as Bangladesh begin campaign against confident Afghanistan

These may be early days at the 2022 Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates, but Afghanistan showcased what they could do on their day with both bat and ball, with their eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the tournament-opener on Saturday.

Three days later, on Tuesday, Mohammad Nabi-led Afghanistan meet Shakib Al Hasan’s Bangladesh as the Asia Cup caravan heads to Sharjah.

This will be Bangladesh’s opening game of the tournament, and Tuesday’s match will be followed by another group game against Sri Lanka, on Thursday.

Against Sri Lanka, it seemed as though Afghanistan were the most superior side who were on top of the game. Although spinner Rashid Khan failed to register himself among the wicket-takers, he was very economical, ending with figures of 0/12 from four overs.

Fazalhaq Farooqi stole the show for Afghanistan with the new ball, registering figures of 3/11 from four overs against Sri Lanka, which is his best figures in T20I cricket. Spinners Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman too delivered their full quota of four overs, returning with figures of 2/14 and 2/24 respectively. Pacer Naveen-ul-Haq did his part, with figures of 1/23 from three overs.

In Afghanistan’s reply, Hazratullah Zazai (37*) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (40) shared an 83-run stand for the first wicket before the latter departed, but still it was quite a comfortable chase for the Afghans with eight wickets and 59 balls remaining.

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