Tigers seek to turn it around in T20s

Bangladesh national cricket team will look to turn their fortune around in their three-match Twenty20 International series against West Indies starting today after a nightmare Test series, where they lost 2-0.

Bangladesh barely managed to compete in the longer format as they were thrashed, but with the change of ball, they will have the belief of doing better.

They can draw inspiration from their last T20I away series against West Indies in 2018, which they won 2-1.

A lot has changed since then as Mahmudullah Riyad is leading the side instead of Shakib Al Hasan, and Tamim Iqbal, who was a key performer in that series, is not playing T20Is for the time being.

In the last meeting between the sides at the T20 World Cup last year, West Indies edged Bangladesh by just three runs.

Nicholas Pooran played a crucial role in that match scoring 40 runs off 22 deliveries to turn the tide, and he will be leading the Caribbeans this time around. He will undoubtedly be the biggest batting threat for Bangladesh, and they will have to limit him to find some success.

For Bangladesh, all eyes will be on Liton Das, who has been in supreme touch in Tests and ODIs, but not so much in T20Is. He was dropped against Pakistan after a dismal T20 World Cup campaign, but returned against Afghanistan in March and hit an impressive fifty.

In the last tour, he scored 61 runs off just 32 balls in the series-deciding match to claim the player of the series award.

The onus will also be on Shakib, who was the player of the series last time around, to perform, as always.

Eyes will also be on youngster Munim Shahriar, who had a below-par debut campaign against Afghanistan. Munim is a hard-hitting opening batsman, and Bangladesh will be looking to him to perform on Caribbean pitches that might suit his style.

Bangladesh’s bowling attack might take a hit after the team’s turbulent ferry journey from St Lucia to Dominica, where pacer Shoriful Islam was seen vomiting. In his absence, Bangladesh might go with an extra batsman with the bowling lineup being Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shakib, Nasum Ahmed and Shak Mahedi Hasan.

This series will provide Bangladesh with the opportunity to set the tone for the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup later this year, with Bangladesh only having a series against Zimbabwe and a tri-nation in New Zealand before those showcase events.

Bangladesh batting coach Jamie Siddons was also focusing on that preparation.

“We have quite a few new players in this team. We are trying to develop a side that wins or does well in the T20 World Cup and Asia Cup. We will get enough time to get the right philosophy for the World Cup,” he said.

The Australian also added that he had not spent enough time with the T20I batsmen to have an opinion.

“I am focused on the T20s at the moment. I have only seen two T20s, so I haven’t seen enough to have opinions about our batting. We have some really good players so let’s see how these three matches pan out,” he said before the team left for Dominica.

For West Indies, this will be their chance to continue on their good T20I form at home after their 3-2 series win over England earlier this year.

They don’t have Jason Holder for that but will rely on the likes of Rovman Powell, Kyle Mayers, and Alzarri Joseph alongside skipper Pooran for that.