Bangladesh take on Hong Kong on Group A’s final matchday of the World Twenty20 on Thursday, looking to seal their place in the Super 10.
The hosts have defeated Afghanistan and Nepal with no trouble in their first two matches of the World Twenty20 qualifiers.
For Bangladesh, this game against what truly look like the weak link in Group A should be little more than batting practice for the Super 10.
With two losses in two games, Hong Kong can no longer qualify for the next stage and defeating a Bangladesh squad with such superior batting look improbable.
But they would no doubt like to exit the tournament with a solid performance against the hosts. Preventing another rout and gaining valuable experience should be the team’s primary objective.
The match will commence at 7:30pm at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.
The Tigers, though relaxed, are not taking Hong Kong lightly.
There will be a definite change in the squad after pacer Mashrafe Mortaza picked up a strain in the muscle of his left rib and returned to Dhaka on Thursday morning from Chittagong. Rubel Hossain may be brought in to replace him.
Bangladesh had previously played one international match against Hong Kong but have never played each other on the World T20 stage before.
The latter are making their debut on the big stage of international T20 cricket.
Making just 221 runs, the Tigers still won that Asia Cup match of 2009 by 116 runs in Colombo.
Mushfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah and lower order batsmen lower did not get the chance to bat in their nine-wicket and eight-wicket victory against Afghanistan and Nepal respectively.
Bangladesh may experiment with their line up to provide them opportunity to bat on Thursday.
Source: UNBConnect