Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan asserted that they would be keen to perform as a team instead of being dependent on any individual when they encounter their Afghanistan counterparts in the Twenty20 international series that begins at the Sylhet International Stadium on Friday.

The opener of the two T20Is will kick off at 6 p.m. and T-Sports and GTV will televise the game live.

‘We as a team don’t rely on any particular individual. We want to perform as a team to register a victory,’ said Shakib on Thursday in Sylhet.

Given Afghanistan’s strengths in the shortest format of cricket thanks to the appearances of their world-class spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, along with the pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi, a speculation is taking place that beating the visitors would really be a challenging task for the hosts, although they would be featuring at their backyard.

Not only that, the stats between the two sides also provide a glimpse of Afghan supremacy in the vying, as Bangladesh could seal only three wins in nine games against them while the visitors secured the remaining six wins.

However, Shakib claimed that they will relish the Afghan challenges during the series, adding that they are not worried about any individual of them.

‘There remains a challenge in each series. In particular, it is pretty high in the T20Is, as each team has equal chances to win. It is such a format that any team can defeat any, which is surely enjoyable.’

Being home side Bangladesh were due to have the upper hand in the series as they would be facing their opponents in familiar conditions. But considering the format of the game, Shakib reversed all such traditional notions.

‘We have two games, so we are not overthinking the conditions as they are equal for both sides. I don’t think that we are still the side that will try to take advantage of conditions.

Although Bangladesh veteran opener and one-day international skipper Tamim Iqbal has retired from T20I exactly in this month of 2022, however still he looks contextual in the format due to his recent retirement-to-unretirement saga during the ODI series in Chattogram last week.

It was thought Tamim's incident hit the Bangladesh dressing room, which eventually made them suffer the ODI series loss 2-1 and also might affect them in the T20Is, however, Shakib cleared all conjectures.

‘See, you may think a lot of things from out of the doors. I don’t think that we were ever unsettled inside the dressing room, nor are we still. I felt the environment was always the same.’

The 36-year-old further vowed to clinch the series, adding that it wouldn’t be an easy task.

‘Of course we all have the goal of winning both games, although it will not be so easy.’