Home ›› 12 Mar 2023 ›› Sport
Bangladesh have beaten every side they faced in a bilateral series at least once. Only one team has stayed the exception, England.
The closest the Tigers got to winning a series against England was their 1-1 Test series in 2016, in that too, Bangladesh had to come from behind, meaning they did not have a shot to win the series after the first match.
However, a golden opportunity now awaits them as they lead the Twenty20 International series 1-0 with two matches in hand and a win today will secure their first-ever series win over England across all formats.
In the first match of the series, Bangladesh produced an almost complete performance, outplaying the visitors in all three departments to secure a dominating win.
Returning to Dhaka from Chattogram, they will hope to repeat their performances, at least on the field as the fielding in the first match looked far better than what the Tigers have been displaying for the last couple of years.
They also did well in the death, which has been a problem area for Bangladesh for some time now. On Thursday, they gave away just 21 runs in the final four overs, restricting England to a below-par total despite their great start.
Despite that, skipper Shakib Al Hasan would welcome a few early wickets, something they have been failing to achieve on a consistent basis.
In the batting department, though, Bangladesh will hope for a repeat as their batters did their job with perfection, with Najmul Hossain Shanto, currently on a purple patch, leading the line.
The left-handed batter smoked a brilliant 51 off 30 balls in the first T20I, alongside help from debutant Towhid Hridoy and skipper Shakib, and the opening pair of Liton Das and the returning Rony Talukdar also provided them with a blistering start.
That performance has instilled belief in the Bangladesh side as pacer Hasan Mahmud expressed his confidence in winning the series.
“Hopefully, we will win the series. As the momentum is with us, something good will happen hopefully. The captain is encouraging us. We are a young bunch, everything is going all right,” the youngster said on Saturday.
The 23-year-old pacer also praised his team.
“I think the T20I side we have at the moment, is the best bunch of players. Everyone is very energetic and they try until the end on the field. If we can keep this up, and move forward with this batch, I think we will be able to go ahead in any format,” Hasan said.
What stood out in the first match for Bangladesh was their fielding as they clearly out-fielded the English, who are considered to be one of the best fielding teams in the world.
Hasan explained the situation saying that they were all eager to improve in this aspect.
“We are all trying to improve in fielding. All of us try to stay organised in the field. Generally, the pacers field behind (the wickets), not at cover or point. But now, everybody is prepared to field anywhere. This is a very good thing,” he said.
The concern ahead of the second T20I though remains the wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, which generally provides pitches of a slow nature. However, the Bangladesh pacer is confident of Mirpur dishing up good pitches today.
“As the match will be at Mirpur, definitely the wicket will be good. We have played well so far. We beat them in Chattogram. We will try to beat them here too,” the 23-year-old said.
England, on the other hand, will look to bounce back after they were dominated in the first game. The match in Chattogram was the first for them as the World Champions in the format and their performance rarely provided justice for their status.
While their skipper Jos Buttler managed a 62 alongside 38 from Phil Salt, the others faltered, leading to their subpar total. They would like to change that in the second match, however, things will not be easy considering that Bangladesh are charged up with the first victory.
They might change things up by giving young leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed a shot with the turn that might be available. If he comes in, he is likely to replace one of the five pacers England fielded in the first match.
Bangladesh will hope to get it done today, rather than keeping the series win at bay until the final match. England have no option but to win and they will definitely try to level the series.
