Bangladesh national cricket team captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza (L) and his England counterpart Jos Buttler pose with the one-day international series trophy at Mirpur Thursday.
All sorts of security doubts were left behind as Bangladesh take on England in the forthcoming home series with three-match one-day internationals at Mirpur today.
Security issues have overshadowed cricketing side of the series, which was thrown into uncertainty after a deadly attack in a Dhaka café in July 1 that left 22 people killed, mostly hacked to death.
Bangladesh left no stone unturned to give England all sorts of cooperation regarding security issues that raised their confidence and encouraged them to visit Bangladesh to play the series that also featured two Tests.
Bangladesh warmed up well with 2-1 victory over Afghanistan in a three-match series earlier this week, which came as their sixth successive ODI series win at home.
England on the other hand arrived with some sort of confidence under their belt after beating Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home and would be looking forward to watch the leadership quality of stand-in-skipper Jos Buttler.
England’s ODI’s skipper Eoin Morgan and opener Alex Hales refused to travel due to security ground while they also rested middle-order batsman Joe Root and withdrawn paceman Mark Wood from the squad for injury.
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza said he is looking forward to the opening game as that will set the momentum of the series.
‘In any bilateral series the first match is very important,’ Mashrafee told reporters at Mirpur.
‘We had gone through a lot of hard work before playing the last series and now it is against England.
‘We are positive and we are preparing well so that we can play well,’ he said.
Mashrafee added that Tigers won’t be spared if they take their opponents lightly as even with unavailability of some of their players they still are a very competitive squad.
‘Their batting line-up is very strong and those who have come are very experienced,’ said Mashrafee.
‘Their domestic cricket is very strong and those who have come they have played well.
‘They have many match winners and obviously it is difficult to say who the favourites are. The series will be competitive,’ he said.
Mashrafee drew his heart through the warm-up match against England where some of his batsmen contributed heavily.
Imrul Kayes scored a blistering century while out of touch Mushfiqur Rahim looked to have regained some of his form with a solid fifty.
England skipper Buttler looking forward to see how quickly his team-mates can adapt to the foreign conditions.
‘Adapting to the conditions will be massive,’ said the wicketkeeper batsman. ‘A couple of times in recent series we haven’t started as well as we’d like to so that’s something everyone is very aware of.
This is only a three-match series so each game is absolutely vital. To hit the ground running as best we can, it will be huge,’ he said.
The day-night affair will start at 2:30pm and Gazi TV will telecast the match.
Source: New Age
