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After suffering a clean sweep in the two-match Test series against the West Indies, Bangladesh now shifts their focus to the white-ball formats, with the T20I series starting from July 2.
The Tigers will be looking to wash off their red-ball blues after a Test series to forget and will bank on inspiration from the ODI and T20I series triumphs against the Caribbeans in 2018.
Bangladesh will go straight to the Asia Cup following this series and will play the tri-nation series against New Zealand and Pakistan before heading to the T20 World Cup in Australia in October.
Despite losing the Test series, all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan believes that the Tigers can win the T20I series and that this series will act as preparation for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
The ace all-rounder cautioned about facing a tough challenge in Sri Lanka and said that the series against the Caribbeans is set to be a very competitive one.
“Preparation-wise, this series is important for us because we are going to play the Asia Cup after this and then the T20 World Cup. We don’t have much time on our hands, so it’s important that we do well,” he said after the second Test.
“It is going to be a big challenge for us to play against a competitive T20 side like the West Indies. If we can do well here, then we can take this confidence to the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. It is going to create a good mindset for us going to Sri Lanka because we know that it’s going to be very tough in Sri Lanka. We have a lot of areas to improve but if we can play as a team and perform, then we can win this series,” he added.
Bangladesh’s pace attack will be boosted, with the inclusion of speedster Taskin Ahmed, who made a full recovery and returned to the side after being sidelined with injury.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel announced their squads for the three-match One-Day International and Twenty20 International series against Bangladesh on Tuesday.
West Indies all-rounder Rovman Powell was named as deputy for captain Nicholas Pooran in T20Is.
Left-arm pacer Obed McCoy made his come back to the squad after returning from injuries, while the experienced wicket-keeper batsman Devon Thomas was included and allrounder Keemo Paul was recalled. The Caribbeans left out big names like Andre Russel, Shimron Hetmyer, and Evin Lewis from the squad.
CWI also sidelined Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell and Shai Hope, all of whom had made the T20 squad against India in February, and Dominic Drakes was kept as a reserve player. The announced squad does not feature a total of nine players, who played in the T20 World Cup against Bangladesh in October 2021.
The T20I series will get going with back-to-back matches on July 2, and 3 at the Windsor Park in Dominica. The third match will be played on July 7 at the Guyana National Stadium in Guyana.
