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The One-Day International series loss against England broke Bangladesh’s streak of seven straight series wins at home and they will hope to start a new one against Ireland as they target to test out their fringe players with the World Cup in hindsight.
The first ODI against Ireland will start at 2 PM today at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet.
Bangladesh are coming in with a mixed bag of form as they had lost the ODI series against England but a 3-0 clean sweep of the World Champions in the Twenty20 Internationals will surely hand them some confidence going into the tie, although the squads are quite different with Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim coming into the fray.
However, there is no Mahmudullah Riyad, who has been rested to test out the bench and that is actually the ultimate goal for Bangladesh going into this series.
“(Mahmudullah) Riyad has done enough. We know what he can bring. We want some other players to get up to the mark at the international level. Not just skill-wise. It is about seeing whether they have the character to do the (role) at this level. It doesn’t mean that if that guy performs well, Mahmudullah is finished. He is still in our plans,” Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said on Friday.
That might seem Towhid Hridoy make his ODI debut today as he is likely to be chosen to replace Mahmudullah. If not, Yasir Ali Chowdhury is another possible candidate to take that spot and make his return to the ODI side.
With the aim being testing fringe players and creating a player pool ahead of the World Cup later this year, Hathurusinghe suggested that the new faces should play with the freedom they generally display in domestic cricket.
“They can just play with the freedom with which they play local cricket. We have seen what they can do in local tournaments, which is how we pick them. Their performance and ability to bat a certain way, their records against pace and spin. We are giving them mental confidence so that they can do it at the international level. We are looking at who has that character to do the role at the international level,” the Bangladesh coach said.
Bangladesh might tinker with some other positions in the team as well as Nasum Ahmed is likely to get in the XI in place of Taijul Islam unless Bangladesh go in with three pacers, something which is a possibility considering that the Sylhet pitch often
produces something for the quicks.
“It looks like a good wicket to bat. There’s enough for the fast bowlers and spinners here too,” Hathurusinghe said.
As the apparent goal of the series remains to be preparing for the World Cup, it may seem that Bangladesh are taking Ireland lightly. Considering their record against Ireland in the format, seven wins in 10 games, it might be a possibility but the Tigers’ head coach dismissed all of that.
“We respect Ireland just like England but we don’t fear any team. We are not going to treat Ireland any less than how we prepared for England. When we play our best cricket, we are good enough to beat most teams. It is our mantra.” he said.
The Sri Lankan added, “Winning is always our aim whoever we play. No team is easy in international cricket. They beat England during the World Cup. On their day, any team can beat anyone. We are trying to expand our pool regardless of who we play. We will try to win.”
For Ireland, the goal is simply to find wins in a series they are considered to be underdogs. They have played four ODIs against Bangladesh in Bangladesh and have lost four, and will be aiming at changing that record.
“It’s quite an exciting tour for us. Bangladesh obviously a very good ODI team in their own conditions. We’ve seen that over the last number of years. They’ve been beating a lot of the best teams in the world here. So, we just wanna string three good performances together. We know where Bangladesh are strong. We know where we can maybe try to look to expose them,” Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie said ahead of the first ODI.
Bangladesh have some fitness concerns ahead of the series as Zakir Hasan has already been ruled out and Mehidy Hasan Miraz was injured during training on Friday but he is apparently not hurt too much and is likely to play today, unless for a precautionary measure.
There are some doubts regarding skipper Tamim Iqbal’s fitness too as he is down with fever. However, he trained on Friday and if he does not make it, Liton Das is likely to take his place as captain.
