Afghanistan are fresh off a historic win over 2021 champions Australia at the same venue on Saturday and will be looking to beat Australia to reach the semi-finals of a world tournament for the first time, with an unchanged line-up.
Despite losing their first two matches of the Super Eight, Bangladesh can progress to the group semi-finals along with India with a big win.
The team made two changes from their loss to the Indians two days ago, with batting all-rounder Soumya Sarkar coming in for Jaquel Ali and seamer Taskin Ahmed coming in for Mahedi Hasan.
Australia, who lost to India on the same day and are down to two points, will be rooting for Bangladesh as a narrow win would see them reach the last four on net run rate.
The Afghanistan team has a clear path to the T20 World Cup semi-finals and a win against Bangladesh in the final Super Eight match will ensure their place.
India have already secured the top spot in Group 1 with a 24-run win over Australia and have qualified for the semi-finals. The remaining semi-final spots in Group 1 will be contested between Afghanistan, Australia and Bangladesh, who have each secured two points.
The scenario in Afghanistan is as follows:
– A win against Bangladesh would see Afghanistan move to four points, ahead of Australia and ensuring their place in the semi-finals despite their current net run-rate (NRR) of -0.650.
– Even if the match finishes scoreless, Afghanistan will still progress to the final with three points, enough to narrowly beat both Australia and Bangladesh.
For Bangladesh:
– Bangladesh need a big win to progress. Batting first, Bangladesh need to beat Afghanistan by 62 or more runs, or reach the target set by Afghanistan quickly enough (the exact number of overs will vary depending on the target). In this scenario, Bangladesh’s NRR will be better than Australia’s -0.331 and they will reach the semi-finals.
– A higher victory margin will not be enough for Bangladesh and Australia will advance due to their better NRR.
Playing XI:
Afghanistan – Rashid Khan (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammed Nabee, Gulbuddin Naib, Nangeyaria Karothe, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqui.
Bangladesh – Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Litton Das (wicketkeeper), Tanjid Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Sowmya Sarkar, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Saqib, Mustafizur Rahman.