Bangladesh will lock horns with Pakistan in the first of three-match T20I series in Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium today (Friday). The match is scheduled to begin at 3:00pm. The last time Tigers toured Pakistan was back in 2008, 12 years ago. Though, Bangladesh are without some key players on this tour, but history beckons for the Tigers as they would like to start off the series with a win, which would be Bangladesh’s first ever on Pakistan’s soil in any format of the game.
Bangladesh, especially in the shorter format of the game, have improved by leaps and bounds in the recent times and Pakistan are well aware of that. Especially, the T20 win against India on their own soil last November was a remarkable achievement. Tigers played some competitive cricket and almost won the T20 series against India. So, cricket lovers of both the nation are braced for a competitive series.
Tigers’ mostly rely on youngsters on this tour, who showcased themselves with individual brilliances on the recently concluded BPL. It will also be a good test of squad depth ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia. When it comes to batting, there are some experienced shoulders in the team with the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das and the skipper Mahmudullah Riyad himself. Other batsmen who are coming from the back of a good BPL campaign includes, Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Naim Sheikh. Naim also had an impressive series against India, so it will be interesting to see whether he can keep that consistency going.
In bowling, the team will rely on ace pace bowler, Mustafizur Rahman and other new comers in the team are pacer Hasan Mahmud and spinner Mehedi Hasan. Mahmud scalped 10 and Mehedi grabbed 12 wickets in the BPL. They now have to step up their level to do well in the international stage.
Meanwhile, Pakistan had lost their last T20I home series against Sri Lanka 3-0 and they very well know that taking the Tigers lightly will only lead to a similar result. Pakistan have lost all of their last five completed T20Is, with a 0-3 defeat against Sri Lanka and a 0-2 defeat against Australia. Had one match not been abandoned, the result in all likelihood would have been 3-0 as well.
To put an end to the losing streak, Pakistan have called-up uncapped Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt and Haris Rauf for the three T20Is in Lahore. Senior batsmen Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik have also been included. The ones to miss put are Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Amir, Asif Ali, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz.
