Bangladesh captain Litton Das won the toss and elected to bowl first against Pakistan in first T20, hoping to restrict Pakistan to under 140 on a pitch that he described as “looking good, but a bit uncertain at first glance.”
His counterpart, Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha, expressed confidence in his side regardless of whether they batted or bowled first.
Bangladesh made one change to their playing XI from the last T20I against Sri Lanka; pace spearhead Taskin Ahmed returns to the lineup in place of left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam.
Taskin will lead a three-man pace attack alongside Mustafizur Rahman and Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
Spin duties will be shared by all-rounders Sheikh Mehedi Hasan and Rishad Hossain, with part-time option Shamim Hossain also available if needed.
In head-to-head T20I encounters, Pakistan clearly holds the upper hand, having won 19 of the 22 meetings so far. Bangladesh has won just three, two of which came at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur; the venue for today’s match.
However, the Tigers come into this series with renewed confidence following their historic T20I series win in Sri Lanka, where they bounced back from an opening loss to take the series 2-1.
Bangladesh playing XI: Litton Das (captain), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali, Sheikh Mehedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
Pakistan playing XI: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris (wk), Hasan Nawaz, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Mohammad Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Abbas Afridi, Salman Mirza, Abrar Ahmed.
SH
