Bangladesh begins their Afghanistan series with a staggering loss

Ahead of their historic maiden Test against India starting on June 14, Afghanistan will go head to head in a short T20I series against Bangladesh. The three 20-over matches will be played at the new Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun, which awaits to host the first ever international cricket match in the state of Uttarakhand.

Before the series starts on June 3, the team from Bangladesh played a warm-up practice match against Afghanistan A on Friday. The visitors did not have much luck in the match, and the Shakib Al Hasan led team lost to the Afghan A side by 8 wickets. Batting first, the Tigers could only manage a total of 145 after 20 overs. Mosaddek Hossain was there top scorer with an unbeaten 38, followed by Mushfiqur Rahim (27) and Shakib himself (19).

The chase looked very easy for the Afghanistan team, as they reached the target losing only a couple of wickets. Hazratullah scored 69, while all-rounder Mohammad Nabi supported him with a short but effective inning of 32, both unbeaten.

Bangladesh squad

Bangladesh is here without there lead pacer Mustafizur Rahman. It was a last-minute call to leave him out of the squad because of the injury he sustained during the Indian Premier League (IPL). A lot of responsibility will be on the shoulders of captain Shakib, in both the bowling as well as batting departments.

Afghanistan squad

As for the Afghanistan team, they have proved they have the potential to surprise even experienced teams in the short format. One can hope they will put up a good show in their first ever Test match against India later this month. Though only five players of the T20 squad will be there in the Test team, the series against Bangladesh will still be a good practice ahead of the Test.

Captain Asghar Stanikzai, Mohammad Shahzad, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Zadran and Mohammad Nabi are the five in question. Rashid will join the national team on Saturday from England, where he was to represent ICC World XI at Lord’s against West Indies in the charity match.

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