BSS, Dhaka :
After conceding a four-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh aim to regain confidence ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup by beating Ireland in their second last official practice game today at the ADC Oval 1 ground in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The match starts at 8.00PM (Bangladesh Standard Time).
The Tigers’ overall performance in the first warm-up game against Sri Lanka was not encouraging one as they failed to put up an expected performance in both batting and bowling.
The shining light of Bangladesh in the first game was Soumya Sarkar who showed his brilliance in both batting and bowling. Soumya firstly blasted 26 ball-34, the highest for Bangladesh in their 147-7 in 20 overs and later claimed two wickets before Sri Lanka raced to the victory with 148-6 in 19 overs.
Soumya’s return to form after a long time would definitely boost Bangladesh. But what is more important for them to get back to winning way ahead of the first fixture in the T20 World Cup, considered as cricket’s third biggest extravaganza after ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy.
Skipper Mahmudullah Riyad missed the first warm up game due to his back pain while fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was rested. It is highly likely that Mustafizur will play the second practice game but it is not clear whether Mahmudullah would play the game.
His injury was not serious but the team management kept Mahmudullah in rest given the fact that Bangladesh would have to play three matches in Round 1 without any significant gap. After playing this match, Bangladesh will travel back to Oman on Friday for their Round 1 phase. Mahmudullah and his troops will start their mission, taking on Scotland on October 17 after which they will face off hosts Oman on October 19 and Papua New Guinea on October 21.
It is expected that they won’t face any stern challenges from this sides and would effortlessly qualify for the Super 12s.
The Tigers so far played 25 matches in the World Cup of this shortest version of cricket and won just five-four of which came in the qualifying round. They won only one match against the West Indies in the tournament proper.
