Tigers eye Afghan series win

Bangladesh batters Towhid Hridoy and Shamim Hossain. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

Bangladesh will be looking to clinch their maiden bilateral T20I series victory over Afghanistan when the two sides clash in the second and final match at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today, scheduled to start at 6 pm.

The confidence of the Tigers is high after the home side bounced back from consecutive ODI losses to win the third ODI and the first T20I.  

Courtesy of the young guns from the Under-19 World Cup-winning team — Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Shoriful Islam — Bangladesh went across the finish line in the first T20I. 

“To be honest, ranking doesn’t matter nowadays, especially in T20s since it’s a game of 120 balls. You never know when the momentum of the game swings. Afghanistan are above us in the [T20I] rankings but we will go out to fight and try to fight neck and neck and see what happens,” Shoriful, who hit the winning runs on Friday to seal a two-wicket victory, said. 

According to the 22-year-old, the Tigers will once again look to pick up early wickets.

“Definitely it becomes easy to win a game if the bowlers can get rid of the top order. We have been able to do that in the last few games. I hope that the pacers and spinners can do that in the long run,” he said.

Afghanistan, meanwhile, will be desperate to save the series and finish their tour on a high.

The passionate Sylhet crowd is expected to arrive in numbers to support the Tigers like the first T20I.