The unusual heat of 35 degree of precision made a life miserable for common people, let alone cricketers sweating it out at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in the capital.
Bangladesh T20 skipper Mahmudullah and wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan looked exhausted following their nets session under the supervision of local coach Mizanur Rahman while pacer Taskin Ahmed, Al Amin Hossain and Mehedi Hasan Rana also looked the same after their bowling sessions in tandem against the duo.
The stylish left-handed batsman didn’t take long to get back into business considering it was his first day at nets after a while as he is returning following a break from cricket.
Afif looked solid and he seemed to be following his own methods while Nurul and Mahmudullah were more inclined to play aggressive shots in the nets, however, Afif decided just focused middle the ball with the meat of his bat.
The left-handed batsman played some textbook drives while he also played some square cuts, flick, scoop along with sweep and reverse sweep to make sure that he is well prepared for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup assignments.
The 21-year old is not strongly built unlike some of the T20 specialists playing across the globe but that hardly make him any lesser a cricketer in the shortest format as he is inclined to come up with a smart batting approach.
The smartness of Afif came through the fact that whenever he looked to be pushed by the pace he used it for his purpose by gliding it and that too with perfection and the best part was that he knew it was his responsibility.
The way Afif handled the visitors’ bowling unit in the recently-concluded T20 series of Tigers and furthermore, he guided his team to victory on a couple of occasions on validating the fact that he will play a crucial role for the Bangladesh team in the upcoming T20 World Cup. The left-hander seems to be well aware of his responsibility.
