Bangladesh bowl first to sweep T20 series against Afghans

Bangladesh captain Jaker Ali Anik won the toss and sent Afghanistan into bat first in the third and final T20 game at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in UAE on Sunday.

Having taken an unassailable 2-0 lead following their four-wicket and two-wicket victory, Bangladesh are eying a clean sweep of the series.

Bangladesh made one change from the previous squad with Tanzim Hasan Sakib returning to the fold, replacing Mustafizur Rahman.

Jaker Ali, however, emphasized on being aggressive to materialize their dream.

"It's a nice wicket and things are going good with this strategy, so we will like to bowl. As a team, we have done lots of good things and we have kept a good mindset," Jaker told the broadcasters after winning the toss. 

"You have to field well in T20 cricket. They are a good side, they have world class spinners, if we want to compete with them, we have to be aggressive."

The series defeat against Bangladesh is Afghanistan's first since 2015 in UAE. Before conceding the series, they had won nine series in a row in this country.

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan vowed to secure consolation victory for avoiding series sweep.

"It's a good batting track but it will get harder later on. To do well in the first ten overs with both batting and bowling is important," Rashid said. 

"We hardly had options in the past in the bag but now we have good bunch of players and as a captain, I have a lot of options."

Afghanistan also brought up one chance from the previous game, with Bashir Ahmad coming in place of Noor Ahmad.

Line Ups: 

Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Jaker Ali Anik(w/c), Shamim Patwari, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Rishad Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Afghanistan: Sediqullah Atal, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Wafiullah Tarakhil, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan(c), Abdullah Ahmadzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Bashir Ahmad.