10:00 AM UTC: Bangladesh vs West Indies, Group 1, Super 12s, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
Bangladesh and West Indies will meet in first of the double-header in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Both teams come off big losses and have had no momentum so far. In the last match, Bangladesh lost to England while West Indies suffered a huge loss to South Africa.
Look ma, no starts!
Both teams have not received significant starts. While Mohammad Naim has had two 60+ innings for Bangladesh, Liton Das has only scored more than 20 once and Soumya Sarkar may replace Das. On the other hand, Evin Lewis did make 35-ball 56 runs for Windies in the last match but Lendl Simmons made just 16 runs in 35 deliveries or so, which meant that West Indies played catch up for the rest of the game.
The middle-order has been decent for the Bangladeshis, with Musfiqur Rahim making significant contributions in the last two games but the form of Shakib Al Hasan is a huge concern. For the West Indies, Chris Gayle has looked out of sorts while the hard-hitting duo of Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell have not clicked. Perhaps, bringing in Jason Holder will help.
Bowling concerns and Jason Holder may return for West Indies
Bangladesh’s bowling has received a punding for two games in a row. Mehedi Hasan hasn’t made a huge impact and is yet to take a wicket in the Super 12s. Shakib Al Hasan had an impressive spell versus Sri Lanka but Australian batting took him to task. Meanwhile, Mustafizur Rahman has not conceded whole lot of runs but hasn’t picked a single wicket in three matches. Meanwhile, Nasum Ahmed has struck but has spent a huge amount of runs. The other bowlers are yet to show anything special so far.
For West Indies, the bowlers have done better. Akeal Hosein has been a terrific option for the Windies in Powerplay but the lack of cracking pace can cause a bit of concern. However, the slower deliveries of Dwayne Bravo did prove to have an impact. Now it will be interesting to see if West Indies bring back Jason Holder whose height and variations make him a superb option. Holder played a crucial role in the IPL with both his batting and bowlin.