It will be an acid test for Tigers as they play their first Pool A match of World Cup 2015 against ever improving Afghanistan on Wednesday at Manuka Oval in Canberra, Australia at 9:30am (Bangladesh Standard Time).

Bangladesh cricket team know the first one is almost a must win match for them as they know that other opponents in their Pool A, besides Scotland, are high rated team then Tigers. So if they get victory tomorrow beating Scotland, there will be a good opportunity for them to dream for a place in the World Cup quarterfinals. Otherwise a defeat may make their World Cup mission despondent in the remaining fixtures.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, talking to journalists at a press briefing in Canberra, revealed, ‘Manuka Oval is good track to bat as the ball comes on at even height, so if you willing to play on the bounce, then there is a good chance for a team to score 300 runs.’

If Bangladesh, he reasons, play to their accurate promises, it should not be very tough to tame the revived Afghans.

Even Ireland were hunting down West Indies in Nelson, while Scotland left co-host Kiwis with a disconcerting three wicket victory and Tigers now know lots being are expected from them back at home.

In Manuka Oval of Canberra, Bangladesh went through a three-hour intense training session on Tuesday.

Bangladesh lost all World Cup warm-up games, including Ireland and Afghanistan, their first opponents in the tournament.

Afghanistan also beat them in the Asia Cup last March in the only previous ODI between the two sides.

Bangladesh has not played an international game for two-and-a-half months now. But they were putting in the effort in training. Barring Tamim Iqbal, who is feeling his way back from a knee injury and only faced throw downs and some offbreaks, the other Bangladesh batsmen had long stints in the side nets just outside Manuka Oval against both pace and spin. The fast bowlers ran in hard in the heat and tested their team-mates' techniques.

Rubel Hossain seemed the quickest, sending Mahmudullah's leg stump out of the ground with a sharp yorker. He also found some swing, while the two young ones, Taskin Ahmed and Al-Amin Hossain hit the surface hard and generated rapid bounce. The well-built Taskin, especially, was quite a sight when viewed from just behind the batsman as he pounded in.

The injury-prone Mashrafe Mortaza eased into his spell, bowling off a few paces at the start, and clutching his right shoulder on a few occasions as he loosened up. He was soon sprinting in from his usual run-up, although he was the slowest of the four Bangladesh pace bowlers. He also bowled the shortest spell among the four, choosing to have a short batting stint after that.

Rubel and Al-Amin bowled in tandem, while Mortaza and Taskin took charge in another net. Spinners operated in the remaining two practice nets.

Team manager and former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud sent down a handful of his mediums as well, even going past the outside edge a couple of times. Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah comprised the first batch of batsmen while Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman and Mortaza formed the second. Anamul Haque came on in the final batch along with some of the bowlers. 

After some initial discomfort in tackling the pace and bounce of a couple of the strongly-built local net bowlers, the short Mominul went on to play some solid pulls, picking up the lengths early and moving quickly into position. Mushfiqur batted the longest, in the net just adjacent to the pavement.

Bangladesh will be hoping all the work prevents another misfire against Afghanistan. 

Squads and officials for Wednesday's World Cup Pool A match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

—Team—  

Bangladesh - Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Taijul Islam, Arafat Sunny.

Afghanistan - Mohammad Nabi (captain), Afsar Zazai, Usman Ghani, Aftab Alam, Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Hamid Hasan, Javed Ahmadi, Najibullah Zadran, Mirwais Ashraf, Nasir Jamal, Nawroz Mangal, Shapoor Zadran, Samiullar Shenwari.

Umpires: Steve Davis (ENG), Joel Wilson (WIS)

TV umpire: Aleem Dar (PAK)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

Weather forecast: Cloudy, shower. Maximum temperature 29 Celsius