(Cricket news) It is no surprise that a country with so much passion for cricket, Bangladesh’s campaign has received a lot of criticism from not only former players but also experts as well. England on the other hand proved why they are the no 1 side in the world with a dominant display over the West Indies, and even though they are lacking the all round depth and quality the Three Lions will be outright favourites for this clash.
Bangladesh will be lacking confidence heading into the match, having already lost to Scotland and Sri Lanka in this year's World Cup, knowing that if they lose today's match, that would almost mean curtains for the tournament. Bangladesh will again rely heavily on their experience of Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman and captain Mahmudullah to provide the much needed stability in a fairly inexperienced side. For Bangladesh, fast bowler Mohammad Saifuddin has been ruled out and experienced fast bowler Rubel Hossain has been named his replacement in the side, this could be a blessing in disguise for Bangladesh as Rubel has plenty of big match experience for Bangladesh. The Bangladesh team management will likely go in with three frontline spinners, looking to take advantage of England's fragile middle order by taking early wickets.
England in the previous match looked like a side with vengeance on their mind after losing in the World Cup final five and half years ago, the spinners wreaked havoc on the West Indies batters and Eoin Morgan is expected to employ a similar tactic by using his spinners against Bangladesh. The England openers need to be wary of Shakib’s bowling in the powerplay as he has a good record against Roy and Buttler in T20 cricket. Moeen Ali will have a crucial role in dismissing the left handed batsmen in the Bangladeshi side, after we saw his success against West Indies left handers. The area for concern heading into the match could be the form of Eoin Morgan and Liam Livingstone as both of the players endured a disappointing IPL and will be looking to get in form before the business end of the tournament starts.
Head to head: Bangladesh and England have remarkably never played each other in a T20 international.
Pitch and weather report: The scores at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi have been very low in the tournament so far, the pitches may not be particularly easy for batting but the players can utilise the power play wisely. The spinners will play a significant role on this sluggish pitch as the toss won’t matter with an afternoon match there is not going to be any dew.The temperature is going to hover 35-30 degrees as there is no chance of rain today.
Interesting facts:
- Shakib has won all of the last six player of the match awards in a ICC tournament including two in this edition
- Bangladesh were the third slowest scoring side in the Powerplay in round one of this World Cup, scoring 5.50 runs an over.
- Mushfiqur unbeaten 57 against Sri Lanka was his maiden half-century in the T20 World Cup, coming in his 29th match.
- Rashid equaled Steve Tikolo's record for the cheapest four-wicket haul in T20Is with his 4 for 2 against West Indies
Also read: Haris Rauf's 4/22 sets up Pakistan's five-wicket win over NZ
Probable XI for Bangladesh:
1 Mohammad Naim, 2 Liton Das/Soumya Sarkar, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim, 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Nasum Ahmed, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
Probable XI for England:
1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Eoin Morgan(capt) , 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Tymal Mills/Mark Wood
