A file photo shows Bangladeshi cricketers are doing their practice in a training session at Pembroke Cricket Club in Dublin on May 2.
A confident Bangladesh will look to confirm a final berth in the ongoing tri-series when they take on West Indies in their penultimate league stage match at Malahide Cricket Club Ground in Dublin today.
The match is scheduled to start at 3:45pm Bangladesh Standard Time and will be telecast live on GTV and Maasranga TV.
The Tigers made an impressive start to their tri-series campaign when they beat the Caribbean side by eight wickets before their second game against hosts Ireland was washed out without even the coin toss taking place.
Bangladesh with six points, are currently in the second place in the three-team points-table behind West Indies and a victory against them will ensure their qualification for the final and Ireland’s exit from the tournament as the hosts got only two points after three matches.
West Indies have already made their place in the final as they beat Ireland twice in the tournament and currently have nine points in their tally.
The Tigers will not only be in search of a win to seal their place in the final, they will also hope for a victory to give their benched cricketers some playing opportunities in the final group match against Ireland, on May 15.
Bangladesh have been touring Ireland with four extra cricketers – Nayeem Hasan, Yasir Ali, Taskin Ahmed and Farhad Reza – along with their 15-member World Cup squad and they may get a chance to look over some of these cricketers if they manage to win against West Indies in today’s fixture.
Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, who finished 1-38 in the first match against West Indies, was satisfied with his and his team’s overall performance in the first match and hailed the core players’ as the catalyst behind their ODI success.
‘Why is the Bangladesh team so strong in ODIs now? It is because the core players have strengthened their position in the team by playing for a long time. They have taken themselves to a pedestal. The team has benefitted from that,’ said Mehedi.
‘I also want to go to that place. If I do something else without strengthening my position, I may have to lose my place. I want to secure my place [in the team]. I want people to say that Miraz [Mehedi] is indispensable in both the ODI and Test teams,’ he added.
Mehedi believed that they needed to perform well in the tri-series as their performance here would motivate them in the forthcoming ICC World Cup.
‘This [tri-nation] tournament is very important for us. If we can play well here, it’ll be great for both me and the team to go into the World Cup with a great preparation,’ he added.
West Indies, on the other hand, will be hoping to better their performance over familiar foe Bangladesh as they lost four out of their last five matches in ODI format against them.
West Indies top-order batsmen – Shai Hope, Sunil Ambris and late-order batter Ashley Nurse are in great run of form and they need to step up once again while their bowling unit needed to be more discipline in order to beat Bangladesh in their last league match.
Source: New Age.