Bangladesh T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan wants to use the confidence in the Asia Cup of ODI format gained by the T20 team in the recently-concluded Afghanistan series.

Although Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim have retired, almost all the remaining players of the ODI team are playing in the T20 team. Despite losing the ODI series against Afghanistan, the Tigers whitewashed them in the T20 series. In addition to playing the first match in the World Cup, Bangladesh will face Afghanistan in the group stage of the Asia Cup.

In the press conference after the series, Shakib said, “Most of the T20 players are in the ODI team, or the T20 players are in the ODI team. They can go with this confidence. Since we will face them (Afghanistan) in the Asia Cup, we will face them in the first match of the World Cup. If we can carry this confidence, it will be good for us. 80-90% of the players of our T20 team play ODIs. A huge confidence boost for them ahead of the Asia Cup I would say.”

Expressing the excitement of winning the first T20 series against Afghanistan, Shakib added, “Of course it feels good. We didn't have a good T20 result with them. Having won a series like this in such conditions, it will give us more confidence going forward.”

The T20 team has had a great year. After playing 8 matches, victory came in 7 matches. Shakib is supposedly happy with this performance. However, he gave the board and the media the responsibility to judge how the team is doing, “Of course, it is a lot of relief. What can be better if the things we are working on, the plans are implemented on the ground and the results are good. It is not really for me to say whether we have reached that state or not. Board can think, you can comment. Our job is to perform on the field, try to contribute to the team, play as a team. We are trying that.”