Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan has won the toss and elect to bat against Bangladesh in Kingstown, St Vincent, on Tuesday.
Playing XIs:
Bangladesh: Litton Das(w), Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Soumya Sarkar, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan(c), Nangeyalia Kharote, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
The sprightly Afghanistan team will simply need to defeat Bangladesh in their last Super Eights match to qualify for the T20 World Cup semi-finals in Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines, following India's 24-run win over Australia.
With India sealing the top spot on way to the semifinals, the other three teams can qualify as the second side from Group 1 since Afghanistan, Australia and Bangladesh have two points each.
The equation is simple for Rashid Khan's Afghanistan, who have a negative net run rate of -0.650. The Afghans will topple Australia from the second place in Group 1 if they beat Bangladesh and advance to the final four, irrespective of what their NRR is, since they will end up with four points.
Even a no-result finish in the contest would see Afghanistan qualifying for the semifinals, for they would get one point which would take their tally to three.
At the same time, Bangladesh, who lost both their matches in the Super Eights stage, hold the fate of former champions Australia in their hands.
A win by 62 or more runs for Bangladesh, batting first, or getting over the line quickly -- number of overs to do that would be determined by the target Afghanistan set -- would propel the Najmul Hosain Shanto-led side into the semifinals.
But a victory for Bangladesh by any lesser margin would see Australia, who have a NRR of -0.331, make it to the last four as Afghanistan would not be able to improve their NRR.
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