KOLKATA; Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi won the toss and opted to bat against Bangladesh as the 2009 champions seek to put a tumultuous build-up to their World Twenty20 Super 10 stage campaign behind them on Wednesday.
It took a lot of cajoling from the organisers to convince Pakistan to shed their security apprehensions and travel to India and the former champions will be banking heavily on their bowlers to gloss over an inconsistency with the bat.
"We are struggling with our batting, so we are going with six genuine batsmen and two all-rounders," Afridi said after winning the toss.
Their Group Two opponents Bangladesh, who were forced to come through a qualifying round, have been in good form of late and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza admitted he would have preferred to bat first at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.
"It's better to bat first but anyway, we have to bowl well now," Mortaza said.
Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny, who was reported for a suspect action, returns to the Bangladesh squad for the match.
REUTERS
