Can Shakib inspire Tigers to victory in his 100th T20I match?

Bangladesh will look to make a winning start to their T20 Asia Cup journey when they take on Afghanistan at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium today, although they won't be favourites.

Afghanistan had already sent a big message of intent to the rest of the competition after crushing Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their first game. 

Bangladesh will have to perform much better than they have done in recent times and will hope that happens under Shakib Al Hasan's captaincy.

"Which team is the better team will be proved in the field," said Bangladesh allrounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the pre-match press conference.

"When all play well in all departments, we normally win the game. Everyone in our team is in a good zone to prove themselves, so we are hopeful of a good result."

As Shakib begins his third term as T20I captain of Bangladesh, it will be a momentous occasion for him in more ways than one as it will be his 100th match in this format.

He is only the third Bangladesh player to reach that milestone after former captain Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim.

There is an additional stat to inspire captain Shakib too as he is already the highest wicket-taker (121 wickets) in the T20 format in the world. 

In terms of batting, he has the second-most runs amongst Bangladeshi batters with 2010 runs, only behind Mahmudullah who has 2071 runs. 

Shakib was given the captaincy after Bangladesh were going through a rough patch in this format following their disappointing T20 World Cup outing last year.

After the showcase event, they won just two matches out of 10, including losing their first-ever bilateral T20 series against Zimbabwe. 

Shakib earlier said that everything can't be changed overnight but Bangladesh will try to play the format the way it is meant to be played. 

The new captain pointed out at scoring at a faster pace, which Bangladesh lack and as a result, are a vulnerable side in this format. 

The Bangladesh practice game and training module demonstrated the fact that they are more focused on six-hitting, which has not always been the case. 

"The first match is always important," Miraz said. "We are hopeful of making a winning start. We are not focused on who the opponent is, we are just focusing on our game. 

The Afghanistan batters however have had no problems hitting sixes. 

And their T20I record against Bangladesh also is good as they have won five matches from nine encounters. Bangladesh won three while one match was abandoned.

This year, the two teams played two matches in Bangladesh with both winning one game each. The game that Bangladesh won came in a slower pitch, meaning that if the Sharjah pitch remains slow, Bangladesh would have a slight advantage over Afghanistan's big hitters. Probably this is the fact that keeps Bangladesh calm despite Afghanistan's dangerous T20I form.

Ahead of the tournament, Bangladesh lost some of the key players like Litton Das, Hasan Mahmud and Nurul Hasan Sohan due to injury. The loss of Litton has especially created a serious hole in their opening slot.

The team management had already hinted they will play Anamul Haque Bijoy and Naim Sheikh as openers even though both are not known to be big hitters in T20I cricket. 

But the team management clarified that they have been given specific roles on how they should play. 

The Asia Cup indeed will show if the Tigers are capable of playing the brand of cricket they would like to play under the captaincy of Shakib, who looks keen to usher in a new era in T20I cricket.

The match starts at 8 pm Bangladesh Time.