Dress rehearsal for Asia Cup, WC starts today

When it comes to playing ODIs, Bangladesh have held sway over their Asian rivals Afghanistan by winning a majority of the games. However, Afghanistan have also been able to spring some surprises of their own and, ahead of the first ODI at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium today, the series is shaping up to be a dress rehearsal for the upcoming ties between the two sides in two key tournaments: the Asia Cup and the World Cup.

The Tigers have won seven games and lost four against Afghanistan in the ODI format. They have also triumphed in both the ODI World Cup games that they played against Afghanistan. Bangladesh will also be playing their opening World Cup fixture in India against Afghanistan and ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal opined the series would be just as hard as the last one, which the Tigers won 2-1 at home last year.

"They probably have one of the best bowling attacks in the world. I don't expect anything less from what happened in the last series. We have to fight really hard. We can't expect to walk in and win the game. It is a good thing that we are playing against them at least four times before the World Cup. I think it's a good thing for both teams. They will also understand our strengths and weaknesses," Tamim said at the press conference on Tuesday.

Those strengths and weakness often vary for both teams due to the absence of stars, but this time Afghanistan have a full-strength bowling attack. Alongside their world-class spin options such as Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, they also have pace mettle with the likes of Azmatullah Omarzai and Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Tamim said that doing well against such a bowling attack leading up to the World Cup would give his side 'the best possible confidence.'

The big news from the Afghanistan camp was that spin wizard Rashid was doing well following recovery from back pain. "He [Rashid] is good, he feels better and is available for the games." Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said at the press conference.

There was some grass on the track which could provide a testing spell or two for batters early in the innings. "It looks like a batting (wicket). Still, you have to play good cricket," Shahidi dictated.

Chattogram produces lots of runs and while a dark cloud hovers on Tamim's fitness, the Tigers will be hoping that their batters fare better than their counterparts in order to gain a mental edge for the key tournaments.

"The good thing is you will know the players more than now when we play these three games," the Afghan skipper said, providing the punchline on the focus for the series.