BSS, Dhaka :
In a bid to defend the title, Bangladesh Under- 19 team will take on England in their first match of the group phase today at St Kitts and Navis in West Indies.
The match starts at 7 PM as per Bangladesh Standard Time.
A win against England will help them make a giant stride to become the champion of Group A. Bangladesh are expected to win it easily against the two other sides-Canada and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their group.
The defending champions Bangladesh will take on Canada on January 20 and the UAE on January 22.
Bangladesh played Asia Cup in Dubai, UAE ahead of the World Cup but lost the semifinal to India. However they had arrived in West Indies much earlier to acclimatize with the condition and regain their confidence by winning the warm-up game against Zimbabwe with a big margin.
Skipper Rakibul Hasan, who was part of the victorious 2020 squad, revealed that the squad is starting to adjust to the conditions in the Caribbean.
“The conditions in St Kitts are not that tough, we have been here for two weeks now, so we have adjusted to the conditions and also playing two practice games is a good preparation for us, so we are looking forward to playing England and hopefully we can get off to a good start,” Rakibul said.
“We are focused on our game, yes we are defending champions, but we are looking forward to our game, so we are focused on that and how well we prepare ourselves for the upcoming game and how we can get to the next stage of the competition,” he added.
“Our senior team has done well in New Zealand which is an inspiration for us, so hopefully we will do well in the tournament,” he concluded.
Bangladesh squad:
Rakibul Hasan (Captain), Prantik Nowrose Nabil (vice-captain), Abdullah Al Mamun, Aich Mollah, Ariful Islam, Ashiqur Zaman, Md Fahim, Iftakhar Hossain, Mahfijul Islam, SM Meherob, Ripon Mondol, Musfik Hasan, Naimur Rohman, Tahjibul Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.
