Tigers look to end busiest year with a win 

Bangladesh cricketers are eager to end their busiest year in Twenty20 internationals with a win when they face Pakistan in their 27th T20I in 2021, the highest so far in any calendar year for them.

The year might be rich in numbers, but a poor show in the World Cup and series defeat against Pakistan at home covered the golden moments with dark clouds.

Another defeat against Pakistan today could send Bangladesh to the ninth position in the ICC T20 Rankings, but only around two months ago, the Tigers were ranked sixth.

A defeat against Scotland in the ICC T20 World Cup and failing to secure a single win in the Super 12 stage cost Bangladesh highly though the Tigers narrowly escaped the qualifying process for the next edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia due to poor performance by West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh was 8th in the ICC T20 Rankings on November 15, which was the cut-off date for selecting teams for the Super 12 stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

But two defeats against Pakistan are pushing them down further, and another defeat will see Bangladesh slip to 9th place, whereas Pakistan can topple India and come to second place if they win against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh played 26 T20I matches in 2021, but the winning ratio is not satisfactory as they managed to win only 11 matches so far, though this is the highest number of wins for the Tigers in a year.

Bangladesh won two against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, four against a second-string Australia, and three against a similar kind of New Zealand side over highly questionable wickets at home.