There are days left before Bangladesh and England have their ODI (One Day Internationals), and Bangladesh has started its preparations. The Bangladesh cricket team is preparing at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.
Bangladesh Team’s Preparations
Recently, the team had an intra-squad practice game keenly observed by newly-appointed head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and other coaches. The intra-squad practice game consisted of a Blue Team and Green Team led by ODI captain Tamim Iqbal and Najmul Hossain Shanto respectively.
During the game, Yasir Ali Rabbi, Hasan Mahmud, Taijul Islam, and Ebadot Hossain impressed several people.
Tamim won the toss and elected to bat. Before the squad game, Tamim had skipped the national team’s assignments against India due to an injury. As a result, he only managed to score two from eight deliveries before being dismissed by Hasan.
Among the Green Team, Hasan Mahmud and Taijul Islam showed an impressive bowling performance and managed to dismiss many players at single digits.
While the Green Team’s bowlers were formidable, Yasir stitched together a 53-run stand with Aminul Islam for the eighth wicket. In the end, the batter managed to reach a score of 61 runs from 58 balls before being dismissed.
By the end of the Blue Team’s innings, Taijul bagged four for 23 while Hasan finished with three for 20 runs as Blue Team managed 205, bowled out in 42.4 overs.
When the Blue Team stepped up to bat, however, the bowlers had the Green Team struggling. Before they knew it, the Green Team had lost by 104 runs. The result is mostly because of Shanto’s 15-ball 27. Aside from Shanto, Ebadot bagged four wickets, and Mehedi Hasan Miraz bagged three.
Aside from the intra-squad practice game, the Bangladesh team engaged in match scenario simulations with all the senior cricketers, bar Shakib Al Hasan, back in the fold.
Before the practice game and simulations, Hathurusingha held a team meeting with all the players and coaching staff.
England Team’s Status
On the England team’s side, England pacer Saqib Mahmood and the team manager arrived in the country yesterday. The remaining members of the ODI team will arrive in Dhaka today in two groups. Under the captaincy of Jos Buttler, the 23-member England squad will have their inaugural practice session at Mirpur on Saturday.
The England team recently released their squad lists for the upcoming ODI and T20I series. Following their players’ unavailability due to franchise cricket, there were significant changes to the squad.
It has been six years since England has played an ODI series in Bangladesh. When they last traveled to the Asian country, they won 2-1.
Details on Upcoming ODI and T20I Matches
This year, there will be three ODIs and three T20Is between Bangladesh and England. This T20I series will be the first-ever bilateral meeting between the two teams.
The only time that the two teams faced each other in a T20I match was in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. Because the T20I matches will follow the ODI series England’s cricketers will be coming in for the white-ball series’ till March 6.
The first ODI will happen on March 1. Aside from the upcoming matches against England, Bangladesh will have an ODI and T20 series against Ireland starting March 18.