DHAKA: Afghanistan, in their first Asia Cup appearance, is set to face defending champions Pakistan at Fatullah of Narayanganj on Thursday afternoon.

The third match of the tournament will kick off at 2pm at Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium.

According to cricinfo.com: Afghanistan could not have asked for better circumstances to make their Asia Cup debut: a benign pitch to stymie Pakistan`s potent seam attack coupled with batsmen who fizzle out at all the wrong times. As much as Afghanistan hope to simply enjoy the occasion, the possibility of kicking off their campaign by downing a Test nation would be hard to ignore.

    Afghanistan squad
Mohammad Nabi*, Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Fazal Niazai, Hamid Hassan, Hamza Hotak, Karim Sadiq, Mirwais Ashraf, Mohammad Shahzad†, Najibullah Zadran, Nawroz Mangal, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Samiullah Shenwari, Shapoor Zadran

    Pakistan squad
Misbah-ul-Haq*, Abdur Rehman, Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Fawad Alam, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Talha, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal†, Umar Gul

DST: 1050 HRS, FEB 27, 2014