Bangladesh to face Afg today in must-win Asia Cup clash

The match will start at 8.30 pm (Bangladesh Time). T Sports and Nagorik TV will broadcast it live.

Bangladesh won their first group match against Hong Kong by seven wickets but suffered a six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the previous game.

Two teams from this group will qualify for the next round, the Super 4. Since this is Bangladesh's last group fixture, they must win to stay in the race.

Afghanistan have so far played one game, beating Hong Kong by 94 runs. Even if they lose to Bangladesh, they will still have a chance against Sri Lanka in their last group match. An Afghanistan win today, however, would confirm their and Sri Lanka's places in the Super 4.

Bangladesh captain Liton Das vowed to make a strong comeback, saying they will leave no stone unturned to win.

"We are aware that it's a do-or-die situation. We'll try to come back strongly," Liton said ahead of the game.

However, Bangladesh's T20 record against Afghanistan offers little inspiration. The two sides have met 12 times in this format with Afghanistan winning seven and Bangladesh five.

In the Asia Cup, they faced each other five times, Afghanistan leading with three wins to Bangladesh's two. In the T20 version of the Asia Cup, the two teams met once in 2022 when Afghanistan won by seven wickets.

Despite that record, Bangladesh players remain hopeful.

"There's no point giving up the hopes. We will play to win the match," Bangladesh middle-order batter Jaker Ali Anik said, adding that the team is now much improved in this format.

Bangladesh had won their last three T20 series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Netherlands before coming to the Asia Cup. Jaker believes the Tigers perform better when the stakes are high.

Bangladesh left out fast bowler Taskin Ahmed in the previous match as a strategic move. He may return for this must-win game, while Towhid Hridoy could be dropped given his recent poor form.

Bangladesh squad: Liton Das (c), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali Anik, Shamim Patwary, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Saifuddin.

Afghanistan squad: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Farid Malik, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, reports UNB.