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Tigers eye sealing series

Staff Correspondent
29 Mar 2023 00:00:00 | Update: 28 Mar 2023 22:43:27
Tigers eye sealing series
Bangladesh’s players celebrate after taking a wicket during the first Twenty20 international match against Ireland at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Monday – AFP Photo

After finding an easy win in the rain-affected first Twenty20 International of the three-match series against Ireland in Chattogram, Bangladesh will now hope for more of the same going into the second match.

The Tigers showed some brilliance with the bat on Monday as they had notched up 207-5 in 19.2 overs before rain came along, and then some good performance with the ball saw them restrict Ireland to 81 chasing 104 in eight overs.

Ahead of the second match, Bangladesh rested on Tuesday and will look to bring out a similar performance today.

Changes might come to the team as Rony Talukdar, the Player of the Match from the first match, injured his shoulder during fielding. If he is unfit to play, Jaker Ali Anik may receive his first Bangladesh cap.

Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain might also grab a place in the team instead of Nasum Ahmed.

Apart from their batting, what Bangladesh would like to emulate in the second match is the performance of their pacers. Taskin Ahmed starred with the ball as he picked up four wickets on Monday, while Hasan Mahmud also displayed intelligence with the ball.

Taskin said after the match that their goal was to become a formidable pace attack.

“If we become a world-class unit, everyone will have trouble facing us. Every big team has four-five world-class pacers. We want us to be like that. We are all trying to help each other, which resulted in this improvement. We still need to go to the next level. But I think we are on the right track and we have the correct mentality,” the pacer said in the post-match press conference on Monday.

Bangladesh are now unbeaten in eight matches and they will hope to make it 10 by the end of this series. And in this series, they have continued winning on sporting pitches, rather than doctored ones that provide Bangladesh with an advantage.

Taskin said that this helped them grow as a bowling unit.

“The more we play on good wickets, the better it is for us. Sporting wickets provide a balance between batters and bowlers. The wicket was good in the last two series. We won because we played better cricket. We want to play on these wickets.

“Pacers have to be spot on in good wickets. The better the wicket, the better your execution must be, which helps in improving,” he said.

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