Home ›› 09 May 2023 ›› Sport
With the ICC ODI World Cup in India less than six months away, Bangladesh will take the field in their final ODI Super League series today against Ireland and will eye a series win, despite having little stake in the series regarding the showcase event.
The ODI Super League is the official qualifying process for the World Cup this year and the Tigers have already qualified for the tournament as they currently sit fourth with 130 points from their 21 matches.
However, a clean sweep in the series will take Bangladesh to 160 points, guaranteeing them a finish ahead of current world champions England.
Bangladesh, though, have not had the best preparation leading to the series as inclement weather only allowed them to train outdoors once and also saw the warm-up match being called off.
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe was not very pleased with the situation, saying they would not have agreed to play if they knew about the hurdles they have faced.
“It’s a very unique situation because we are playing Ireland in England. So, normally it doesn’t happen very often, so I can’t blame anyone because it’s the first time. If we knew this is the case, we wouldn’t have agreed to this kind of schedule because it’s not ideal preparation. So, I won’t blame anybody because it’s very unique. So, we learn from this one,” he said.
Despite their lack of preparation, Bangladesh should be heading into the tie as favourites as they have had the upper hand against Ireland in this format, winning nine out of the 13 matches played, losing just two, with the latest being in 2010. In their most recent three-match ODI series in Bangladesh, the Tigers beat Ireland 2-0, with the other match abandoned due to rain.
Bangladesh will play in pace-friendly conditions, which might see them even feature four pacers in the XI as Mehidy Hasan Miraz might play at seven. That might see Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, the 21-year-old who was called up to the national team for the first time in this series, get his maiden international cap, playing alongside Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, and Ebadot Hossain.
In batting, it is unlikely to be any surprises as Tamim, Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, and Mushfiqur Rahim are guaranteed starters, with only Yasir Ali Chowdhury’s position up in the air as Bangladesh are yet to decide whether they will field three fast bowlers or four.
While he refused to give out any prior information on the XI, Hathurusinghe hinted that it might be Miraz at number seven, allowing the Tigers to field four pacers.
“He’s (Miraz) actually a genuine better because he’s got a Test hundred and ODI hundred. So, we can treat him as a genuine all-rounder. And we have another genuine all-rounder in Shakib Al Hasan. So, we are very fortunate with whatever combination we want, we can go with an extra batter or a bowler. We will decide tomorrow morning,” the Sri Lankan said.
The Bangladesh team got to get a look at the Essex County Ground, where the three One-Day Internationals will be played, on Monday. Hathurusinghe perceived the wicket was good and did not believe that a shorter boundary on one side would hamper them.
“It looked like the wicket is very good, very hard underneath. A little tinge of green, that’s because maybe covered for the last days because of rain. That’s not a tricky thing (short boundary). It’s the same for both teams. So, we need to find the tactically which line and length ball when you’re bowling or if you’re attacking, you don’t have to worry about it. It’s just bowling your best ball,” he said.
Despite the series being part of the Super League, Bangladesh have little reason to pay any prominence to the affair, especially because of the dissimilarity to the conditions in India, which the Tigers’ head coach emphasised on.
“This series is not much because we are not going to play a similar condition in India. So, we will concentrate on this series just to win on this condition. How we can play. Not too much looking into the World Cup because of the condition,” he said.
Ireland, on the other hand, have a lot on stake in this series as they must win this series 3-0 to keep their chances of qualifying directly to the World Cup alive, and at home, they will try their best to do so.
The match will start at 3:45 PM Bangladesh time.
