Bangladesh’s maiden bilateral series against Afghanistan will be a challenge for the Tigers, said all-rounder Mahmudullah. Bangladesh will play a three-match T20I series against the Afghans in Dehradun next month and are scheduled to leave Dhaka Tuesday.
Bangladesh have emerged as a formidable cricketing nation in the past few years, offering strong challenges to the biggest of oppositions.
In contrast, Afghanistan, despite being an Associate Member, have also produced genius cricketers of their own and will pose a tough challenge to Bangladesh in the T20Is, believes Mahmudullah.
Bangladesh till date have played only one T20I against Afghanistan. The Tigers in the 2014 World T20 Qualifier bagged a convincing victory at home.
“I don’t think this series will be easy for us. We will have to play really well to win this series. Afghanistan are a very good team among the new sides in world cricket. We have no option but to win in order to keep our reputation intact,” said Mahmudullah in a press conference at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Sunday.
Despite Bangladesh’s reputation in world cricket, the side are behind Afghanistan in the T20I ranking. The Tigers with 75 rating points are at No 10 in the table while Afghanistan are No 8 with 87 rating points. Bangladesh can move to No 9 in the table with a whitewash in the Afghan series.
Bangladesh however, are not thinking too much about the ranking, said Mahmudullah.
“They are No 8 and we are No 10 so the series no doubt will be a tough one for us. We have made vast improvements recently. This series is a good opportunity for us to get into momentum. We can go into the series with a lot of confidence,” said Mahmudullah.
Bangladesh batsmen’s challenge against Rashid Khan, the world’s No 1 T20I bowler, is being widely discussed. Leg-spinner Rashid is the back-bone of the Afghanistan bowling attack and has the capability of making a difference with his performance.
Bangladesh Test and T20I captain Shakib al Hasan shared the dressing room with Rashid in the IPL T20 2018, both featuring for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Mahmudullah said Shakib can share a lot of inside information on Rashid but then again, the Tigers should not focus on only one member of the opposition.
“Rashid is a very good bowler. He has been in brilliant form in the last six months. So we have to be prepared for him, but keep things normal. We need to focus on what we can do in the middle,” said Mahmudullah.
“Shakib has been playing Rashid in the nets (in the IPL) and has been seeing him very closely. We can get some knowledge from Shakib regarding him,” Mahmudullah added.
