Aakash Chopra picks Bangladesh's probable XI for 2025 Asia Cup, chooses fast bowling as their biggest strength

Former India player Aakash Chopra has picked Bangladesh's probable playing XI for the 2025 Asia Cup. He chose the Bangla Tigers' seam-bowling department as their biggest strength heading into the tournament.

The 2025 Asia Cup will be played in the UAE from September 9 onwards. Bangladesh will start their Group B engagements with a clash against Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi on September 11.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener chose three seamers and two spinners in Bangladesh's probable first-choice XI.

"The probable XI for them could be Parvez Hossain with Tanzid Hasan as openers, Litton Das at No. 3, Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Jaker Ali, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman. I feel they could go with this XI," he said (10:15).

The cricketer-turned-commentator opined that fast bowling is the Litton Das-led side's biggest strength.

"Their fast bowling. Believe it or not, in this Bangladesh unit, you say fast bowling has the might. There used to be an era when you used to say that spinners would fall if you shook a tree hard in Dhaka or Mirpur, especially left-arm spinners. Now the focus is on fast bowlers," Chopra elaborated.

"Taskin Ahmed and Tanzim Hasan Shakib can bowl incredibly well with the new ball. After that, they have Mustafizur Rahman, who can bowl both with the new and old ball. So you have got a very decent and, more importantly, a very experienced fast bowling attack. So fast bowling is their biggest strength," he added.

Aakash Chopra pointed out that he rates Taskin Ahmed very highly, highlighting that the right-arm pacer has underperformed slightly thus far. While observing that Mustafizur Rahman has variation, he added that Tanzim Hasan Shakib can also do a decent job.

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"They have variety in spin" - Aakash Chopra on Bangladesh's other strengths heading into 2025 Asia Cup

Mahedi Hasan is one of the spinners in Bangladesh's 2025 Asia Cup squad. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra chose the variety in the spin department as another strength for Bangladesh heading into the 2025 Asia Cup.

"They have variety in spin. I will talk only about variety as a strength because I might talk about inexperience as a weakness. They don't have Shakib Al Hasan, but Mahedi Hasan is there. So you will get an off-spinner. You will get a leg-spinner in Rishad Hossain, and they have Nasum Ahmed as a left-arm spinner. I would say bowling, in all, can be seen as a bit of a strength," he said.

The analyst added that Bangladesh's recent record also goes in their favor.

"Recent form is outstanding. They have been actually playing really good cricket. They have played well in 2025, won matches and series, both at home and away. When you see the recent form, it seems like things are very good. So that will definitely be considered as one of their strengths," Chopra observed.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra chose Jaker Ali, Tanzim Hasan Shakib and Shamim Hossain as the Bangladesh players to watch out for in the 2025 Asia Cup.