DHAKA, March 8, 2020 (BSS)- Bangladesh is eying to make a winning start to the two-match T20 series as they take on the Zimbabwe in the first T20 game tomorrow (Monday) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
The match starts at 6 pm local time.
Earlier, the host won the one-off Test by an innings and 106-run margin before they swept the three-match ODI series. If they can inflict a whitewash on Zimbabwe in T20 series too, they would complete a tour sweep, something
which they actually are eying.
So, a winning start is mandatory to fulfill the aspiration. However, the
T20 captain Mahmudullah Riyad believes it wouldn’t be a cake-walk since
Zimbabwe is always a good opponent in the short format of the cricket.
“Every game is challenging. There is no way that you can take anything
granted,” Mahmudullah said here ahead of the match.
“We have played very good cricket in Test and ODI series. But still I
think, Zimbabwe is very good side in T20 format. They have a good batting
line up. So we have to play our best cricket to beat them. We have to go to
the field with positive intent. Because, if we take them lightly it will
fetch us a negative result.”
Like the Test and ODI, Bangladesh also has the upper-hand over Zimbabwe in
T20 cricket. The two team so far played 11 matches, of which the Tigers won
seven and Zimbabwe had four. In the last two meetings between the two sides,
in tri-nation T20 series in Bangladesh in 2018, Bangladesh won both games.
But the last bilateral series which was also hosted by Bangladesh, Zimbabwe
won a match to draw the series.
Even though they lost the first and last ODI in this series without any
significant resistance, Zimbabwe showed they are capable of giving Bangladesh
a run for their money, when they made the second game very close before
losing it by four runs.
One such performance would help them to beat Bangladesh in the T20 cricket
too, believes its captain Sean Williams.
“I think T20 can swing either way. Two balls can change the game. We have a
young team who are excited to play the shorter format in Mirpur,” Williams
said here on Sunday. “We are fully focused on the T20s. I haven’t mentioned
ODIs to the players at all. It looks like they have clear minds in the net
sessions. It is a lot better now. I think the freedom to play T20s will
change things. But the basics of our game were very poor [which we should
rectify].”