Bangladesh’s pace bowler Al-Amin Hossain said on Sunday that he hopes the planned three-match one-day international series against Afghanistan would help them prepare better against England.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board had been in talks with Afghanistan over hosting the country for the three-match series in late September ahead of England’s tour to Bangladesh.According to the Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan, the three ODIs will be held on September 25, 28 and 30.
‘It will be challenging if we can play against Afghanistan and it will also provide us a good platform to prepare us,’ Al-Amin told reporters at Mirpur on Sunday.
‘We are not playing for a long time. Afghanistan had been playing well in the recent past.
‘In that sense we need to prove that we are better than them,’ said the paceman.
Bangladesh have so far played only two ODI matches against Afghanistan with equal record having lost to the in Asia Cup at home and avenging the defeat in the World Cup in Down Under.
The Tigers also crushed Afghanistan in the ICC World Twenty20, though the trouble-torn South Asian nation showed a marked improvement in recent limited over tournaments.
‘We are confident that they won’t be able to withstand against us but we need to keep up the momentum throughout the series,’ said Al Amin.
‘Our biggest challenge is to win the series cleanly as it will raise our confidence before facing the England side,’ he said.
The England team is due to arrive on September 30 to play three-match ODI series along with two-Test series.
Al Amin said that fellow bowlers need to take up the burden of filling the void of pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who is nursing a shoulder injury and has been ruled out for five to six months.
‘We don’t have the variation that he [Mustafiz] possess,’ said Al Amin.
‘So we need to come up with our best to fill his absence and that will be a big challenge for us,’ he said.
‘Rubel [Hossain] bhai was out for a long time and I am confident that he will come back strongly,’ said Al Amin.
Rubel, arguably one of the fastest bowlers of Bangladesh, recovered from his injury that ruled him out for the Tigers since July 2015.
-With New Age input
