Shakib to lead Bangladesh in T20Is against Afghanistan
Bangladesh have named a strong 15-man squad for their short tour of Dehradun in northern India to play Afghanistan in a Twenty20 International series in June.
Shakib Al Hasan will lead the side, and have Mahmudullah as his deputy, with most of the other premier cricketers from the country present in the line-up, reports the ICC Cricket.com.
The batting charge will be led by Tamim Iqbal, with the department also including Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman and Mosaddek Hossain.
Mustafizur Rahman, the only Bangladesh player in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2018 apart from Shakib, is the frontman of the bowling attack, which has a mix of pacers and spinners, including Mehidy Hasan and Rubel Hossain.
Bangladesh, currently at No.10 in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings to Afghanistan’s No.8, last played the format during the Nidahas Trophy triangular series in Sri Lanka in March 2018, when they knocked the home side out of the competition but came up short against India in the final.
Afghanistan, who have hosted many of their ‘home’ matches in different parts of India in recent times, will make their debut as a Test nation on 14 June against India in Bangalore soon after the T20I series.
This will be the first bit of international cricket at the newly-constructed Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun.
Schedule
1 June: Warm-up game v TBA
3 June: First T20I
5 June: Second T20I
7 June: Third T20I