Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of Bangladesh, believes that their first T20 series victory against Afghanistan will serve as a significant confidence boost for them before the Asia Cup. The hosts recovered well in the shortest format to complete a 2-0 series sweep at the Sylhet International Stadium after suffering a 2-1 loss in the ODIs.
"From here (T20 squad) around 80 to 90 percent cricketers will play in the ODIs and this is a huge confidence boost for us ahead of the Asia Cup," Shakib said after his team's win.
While Shakib believed his team was performing well in T20Is, he acknowledged that they needed to be more adaptable if they wanted to continue to be successful. Afif Hossain, the seventh batter for Bangladesh, was moved up the order in the second game of the two-match series, which was halted by rain.
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Afif (24) adjusted well to his new role by scoring 67 runs in the first innings alongside Litton Das, setting up the decisive victory over one of the best bowling units in the world in this shorter format.
Bangladesh also won their fourth straight bilateral series in this format after defeating the United Arab Emirates 2-0 in Dubai last year and defeating England and Ireland, respectively, by scores of 3-0 and 2-1, in their own backyard this year.
"If there is flexibility it is good for the team. In T20s, a number seven might have to do the same job that openers have to do. If the openers bat for 15 overs he might have to play the next five overs as well. If everyone can bat everywhere, they won't find it difficult to adapt when facing a tough situation. The same goes for the bowlers when they bowl in different situations.
"The five or six bowlers we have... our job is to make things easy for batters and we always try that. Now with the combination we have, we are seeing a healthy competition among pacers and spinners and this is a good thing for the team," Shakib added.
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"Towhid Hridoy and other players are with us from the last World Cup. Most of the players in this team are here either from the World Cup or Asia Cup. Two to four players are coming and going but it's a continuous process. But we are still far from getting our best combination," he said, adding that beating Afghanistan in T20Is came as a big relief as they've not done very well historically against them in this format.
"Of course, it's a big relief when your plans work accordingly and players can also execute it on the field and we get results in our favor. What can be better than that? We didn't have good results against them in this format. But after winning such a series in this type of condition, I think it will give us great confidence to do well in the coming days," Shakib said.
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