Bangladesh national cricket team is going to end its 10-month long forced break from international cricket due to covid-19 pandemic as they will play the first one day international of the three-match series against visiting West Indies at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla national stadium on Wednesday.
This ODI series has been significant in many aspects as Bangladesh are entering into a new phase in their ODI history. Mashrafe bin Mortaza is no longer a part of the ODI set up and this is the first series for newly appointed captain Tamim Iqbal.
Former skipper Mashrafe, the most successful captain for Bangladesh in shorter formats, had stepped down from captaincy duties last year during the home ODI series against Zimbabwe in March where Bangladesh won 3-0. Mashrafe was not included in the ODI squad for the upcoming West Indies series ushering a new chapter for annals of Bangladesh cricket.
Tamim, one of the most experienced players of the side, is brace for the new challenge in his career and the new ODI captain is looking for a bright start.
“ODI series win is obviously important for us particularly at home, but I think the most important thing is to start impressively. We are playing an international game after almost a year. So it’s very important for us to start well. Whether we bat or bowl we need to start the match well tomorrow. First hour is important. If we can start well and play good cricket tomorrow, then we might think about the series win. But at first, we need to start well tomorrow,” said Tamim during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
West Indies have many young faces in their squad as quite a few regular players opted to skip the Bangladesh tour citing Covid-19 concerns. Technically Bangladesh team is stronger and clear favorite in the series but Tamim believes international cricket always brings challenge and they are not taking this Windies side lightly.
“Every opponent is competitive when you play international cricket. Every team plays for the win and surely they will put up a strong competition. West Indies have quality bowlers in their side. But rather than focusing too much on West Indies’ strength, we are focusing on ourselves. We need to play good cricket to beat them and we have to make our process right to win games,” added Tamim.
This series will also be marked as the return of Shakib Al Hasan in international cricket after completion of his one-year ban. The ace all-rounder was banned by ICC back in October 2019. He made his comeback in competitive cricket in the recently concluded Bangabandhu T20 Cup where he featured for Gemcon Khulna, the eventual champion of the tournament.
But Shakib did not perform well in the whole tournament as he scored mere 110 runs in nine matches and took only six wickets. But, since he returned to cricket after a year, such performance with the bat and ball was not totally unexpected. However, the West Indies series will be important for the talisman as he is expected to resurrect in the international arena with strong performances.
Shakib scored a match winning hundred when he played against West Indies last time and that was during World Cup match in 2019 at Taunton. But, Shakib needs to start from the scratch again as it will be more challenging for him to start the 2021 in the same manner to his brilliant form in 2019, when he scored 606 runs in the World Cup that year.
Bangladesh are also considering the West Indies ODI series as the start of the process of a roadmap towards 2023 World Cup by including few young guns in the squad.
Bangladesh are also planning to make changes in their batting order focusing on 2023 World Cup. As a result, young left hander Nazmul Hossian Shanto is set to bat at number three replacing Shakib.
Shakib will bat at number four in the middle order with Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmdullah to follow at number five and six respectively.
Bangladesh team management has brought another change in the batting order in the crucial number seven position. Soumya Sarker, a regular top order batsman for Tigers over the last few years, has been given a new role of batting at number seven position during the upcoming series.
There is no Mashrafe in the squad so left arm seamer Mustafizur Rahmn will lead the pace attack along with other options in the likes of Rubel Hossian, Taskin Ahmed along with rookie pacers Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud.
So the series will bring a lot of new for Bangladesh side- the new captain, new batting order, new pace attack focusing on next ICC World Cup, Shakib’s return but above will it will be a relief for country’s premier sport to be able to return in international fold after months of anxiety and uncertainty shrouded by the deadly pandemic.