BAN vs AFG 1st T20 Match Prediction

BAN vs AFG Team Previews

Bangladesh

The Bangladesh fans will be pretty livid with their team’s performance in the ODI series as the team suffered a rare series loss at home. They did manage to register a consolation victory in the last match and will be hoping to get an early advantage.

Shakib Al-Hasan will take over the reins of the team in this tournament and will hope to bring some positive energy to the squad. He is the top-ranked all-rounder in the T20s according to the latest ICC rankings and his contribution will play an important role in determining the team’s performance.

Despite the absence of veterans Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim from the squad, the hosts have plenty of firepower in their batting line-up. Litton Das and Rony Talukdar are likely to open the innings, while Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, and Afif Hossain will feature in the middle order.

The pace attack is likely to feature Taskin Ahmed and Ebadot. Hossain, while all-rounders Shakib and Mehidy Hasan Miraz will take care of the spin. 

Afghanistan

After suffering a record loss against Bangladesh in the only Test match, most pundits predicted a similar outcome for the ODI series too. However, the visitors bounced back smartly to win the first 2 games and registered its first-ever series win on Bangladesh soil. Afghanistan will now look to carry on with the same form here.

Rashid Khan will lead the team here, taking over from Hashmatullah Shahidi. He is unlikely to change the opening pair of Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, both of whom were excellent in the ODIs. The other batsmen in the squad include Najibullah Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, and Hazaratullah Zazai.

All-rounder Karim Janat makes it to the T20 squad and will feature alongside Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, and Nijat Masood. The spin attack will be one of the biggest strengths for Afghanistan here as it has quality bowlers like Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Noor Ahmed playing for them.

The availability of Afghanistan's prime seamer, Fazalhaq Farooqi, isn’t confirmed yet but others including Wafadar Mohmand and Fareed Malik can fill in for him.