Bangladesh - West Indies Series

Bangladesh-Windies ready to lock horns

Online Desk

Online Desk
প্রকাশের তারিখ: 22:18 মঙ্গলবার, 19 জানুয়ারি, 2021

||CF DESK||

Host Bangladesh are set to return after 313 days to international cricket against West Indies on Wednesday in the home of cricket Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.

This series is special for Bangladesh for several reasons as Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan is returning to international cricket after overcoming the ban with this series. Though, the poster boy of Bangladesh has missed only two series in red and green jersey.

Apart from that new Tigers’ skipper Tamim Iqbal is going to officially lead the team, even though he got the captaincy 9 months ago from the most successful captain of Bangladesh Mashrafe bin Mortaza.

Young cricketers have been given priority in the team. Fast bowlers Shariful Islam, Hasan Mahmud and, all-rounder Mahedi Hasan have been named in the ODI squad for the first time. These three youngsters were almost irresistible in recent performances. Shariful has impressed with the line length and cut slower while Hasan Mahmud's biggest strength is spot ball. Mahedi Hasan caught the eye with tight spin bowling and power hitting. At least two of these three youngsters are almost certain to make their debuts in the first ODI against the West Indies.

Two days before the match, Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo revealed the batting line-up of the Tigers during a virtual press conference. As usual hard-hitting batsman Liton Das will set to open with Tamim while impressive Nazmul Hossain Shanto promoted at number three for the forthcoming match. Shakib Al Hasan has to leave that position and will bat at four. Followed by Wicket-keeping batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad. With that, Soumya Sarkar ready to play as an all-rounder role at number seven. In the pace unit, Shariful or Hasan will pair with Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain or Taskin Ahmed.

Tamim on Tuesday said in official virtual press conference, he is not worrying about the Caribbeans as the full attention of Tigers is on their own game.

“West Indies team is beyond our control. Which team they will send, who will come or not. Our game is in our control. Now the series is not a normal series, where there is no problem to lose. Every match is important for World Cup qualifying. We focus only on what we can control. There is not much benefit in talking about what is out of control.”

However, most of the top cricketers of Windies side did not come to Bangladesh this time due to Covid concerns and personal problems. Kieron Pollard, the regular ODI captain of the Caribbean is not on this tour. Instead, Jason Mohammed will lead the West Indies in this series. He will play ODIs after 2 long years with this series.

Top cricketers like Jason Holder (Test Captain), Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran have also withdrawn from the series.

In the middle order, the Caribbeans will rely on hard-hitting batsman Rovman Powell while other experienced campaigners are pacer Alzarri Joseph, vice-captain Sunil Ambris and batsman Raymon Reifer.

The other nine cricketers in the team are brand new. None of them made their debut in this format. As a result, it is understood that several cricketers are making their debut through this series.

The match is scheduled to start from local time 11:30am.