Sports Desk:

After a stunning victory over Zimbabwe, the rejuvenated Tigers will play their second match of the Tri-nation T20 series against Afghanistan at Sher-e- Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the capital today.

The match will commence from 6:30pm and each team will face off each other twice in the tournament,  which will be held in Dhaka and Chattogram.

Earlier on Friday, Bangladesh youngster Afif Hossain scored his maiden fifty to help Bangladesh break the losing jinx as they defeated Zimbabwe by three wickets against Zimbabwe.

Coming off a humiliating Test defeat at the hands of Afghanistan, who over the times proved to be a stronger team than Bangladesh in shortest format of the cricket.

It will be a dishonest act to claim that Tigers are favourites against Afghans, largely because of Afghan’s success in this format.

Afghanistan whitewashed Bangladesh in three-match T20 series, last time when the two sides faced off each other in Dehradun in 2018.

Afghans played four T20 matches against Bangladesh and won 3 while they have taken on Zimbabwe 7 times in this format and won all of the matches. The stat itself suggested how strong they are in this format and they are outright favourites to clinch the title.

Bangladesh played ten T20s against Zimbabwe and won six while lost four. They have played a bilateral series in this format last time in 2016 in Bangladesh and the two-match series was drawn.

“Everyone just told me to play my natural game,” Afif told reporters at the post match presentation at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Friday.

“They gave me freedom to play in my own style. My intention was to play my natural game and try to bat according to the situation,” he said adding the first boundary helped him gain the confidence to go for the kill.

Afghan mystery spinner Rashid Khan looked to make a smooth transition from Tests to T20 and hoped that they will be able to keep up the momentum.

“We had the best preparation for the Test and it was challenging for the batsmen, they applied themselves. The focus now shifts to the T20 series and we’ll try our best to keep enjoying the format,” Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said.