C T Online Desk: Bangladesh will be looking to avoid an early exit from the ongoing Asia Cup when they take on Afghanistan in their second and last Group B match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore today.
The match is scheduled to start at 03:30pm (BST) and will be telecast live on T Sports.
The Tigers earlier made a poor start in the tournament as they lost to Sri Lanka by five wickets in their opening match at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Thursday.
A disastrous batting performance during the match triggered the defeat for Bangladesh as they could only make 164 runs before Sri Lanka chased the target in just 39 overs.
Bangladesh are currently at the bottom of the three-team points table and a defeat against Afghanistan will confirm their exit from the tournament. The win will keep them alive for the time being but they will have to still wait for the last group match result between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
If the Tigers concede a defeat today, it will be a repetition of last year’s Asia Cup which was held in the T20 format where Bangladesh witnessed an early exit from the tournament after losing to the same two opponents in the group stage.
Both the teams recently played a bilateral ODI series in Bangladesh where Afghanistan clinched their maiden 50-over series win over the Tigers by earning a 2-1 series victory.
However, the Tigers fought back well in the T20 series and won that series by a 2-0 margin.
Ahead of the match, Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that they were pretty much aware of the challenges against Afghanistan and hopeful that his players would be able to deliver on the field.
“Afghanistan bowling attack is one of the best in the world. So definitely it’s a challenge. But we had played them recently. Have some success. So, it all depends on how you perform on a particular day. We are very much aware of the challenges to face them,” Hathurusingha told reporters on Saturday.
Hathurusingha also said that they weren’t thinking far in the tournament as they were only focusing on their game against Afghanistan.
“Before we think of the final, we need to get into the second round. This game is very important because of what happened with Sri Lanka. We know that it’s a must-win game for us,” he said. “We certainly didn’t play to our potential and we didn’t represent ourselves well enough. We are confident that we will bring our A game against Afghanistan tomorrow,” he added.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan, who will begin their tournament campaign with this game, have a chance to confirm their Super Four berth by registering a victory over Bangladesh.
Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi claimed that the team that would play positive cricket on the field would be able to register a win in the contest.
“Both are good teams. You can’t say that Bangladesh are not a good team. Both are good and both are favourites. I believe that our team will do good. Whoever plays good and positive cricket, the result will go to that team,” he said.
