Pakistan
seek to clear path to final
Teams are getting close to
that stage of the Asia Cup when a place in the final is the only thing in their
mind. Pakistan, who opened their account against UAE on Monday night after
getting walloped by India, have a lot to do, and the first thing will be to
beat Bangladesh, who are ahead of them by two points after their wins over UAE
and Sri Lanka, and will have a clearer path to the final if they can win this
contest.
Bangladesh
were on fire against Sri Lanka, putting aside their T20 conservatism and taking
the game by the collar. Sabbir Rahman's brilliant 80 off 54 balls led the way,
with Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah providing a fine finish. With the ball,
Shakib did well again while Mashrafe Mortaza, Al-Amin Hossain and Mustafizur
Rahman bowled critical overs with much confidence to stop Sri Lanka from
overtaking their mediocre score.
The last of those names,
Mustafizur, is missing due to a side strain, which will be a big blow to the
home side. Mustafizur took two wickets on debut against
Pakistan last year and has been bowling well lately too. On the other hand,
Bangladesh's batting will be bolstered by the return of Tamim Iqbal, after he
returned to Dhaka from Bangkok where his wife gave birth to their first child.
Tamim is in form too, having made 267 runs in six innings during the PSL last
month.
Pakistan
will bank a lot on their bowling attack, especially Mohammad Amir who lit up
the Asia Cup with his spells against India and UAE. They will expect more from
the likes of Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Irfan, and the left-arm spinner
Mohammad Nawaz, who was tonked around the park by UAE.
Pakistan's
main concern will be their batting line-up, particularly their top order, which
did not do well in the first two matches. Much will depend on Umar Akmal and
Shoaib Malik, and on Shahid Afridi and Sarfraz Ahmed down the order.
There
is every chance of this being an excellent contest now that the Mirpur curator
Gamini Silva is dishing out better pitches.
Form guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh WWLLL
Pakistan WLLLW
Bangladesh WWLLL
Pakistan WLLLW
Watch out for
Umar Akmal made sure of
Pakistan's two points against UAE in their last game, and he did that in style,
reaching his eighth T20I fifty in the process. He has, however, made only 20
runs in the two innings he has played against Bangladesh in this format.
There is very little left to say about Mashrafe Mortaza's
leadership, but he will want to improve his wicket count against Pakistan in
T20Is, having taken just two wickets in seven matches against them.
Team news
Tamim Iqbal will return to the XI, most likely in place of
Mohammad Mithun, while Abu Hider could replace the injured Mustafizur Rahman.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya
Sarkar, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7
Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Al-Amin Hossain, 10 Abu Hider,
11 Taskin Ahmed
Pakistan could take out Khurram Manzoor and include Imad Wasim but
there is unlikely to be any place for Anwar Ali.
Pakistan (probable): 1 Sharjeel Khan, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Khurram
Manzoor, 4 Umar Akmal, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Sarfraz Ahmed
(wk), 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Mohammad Nawaz, 11 Mohammad Irfan
Pitch and conditions
There will still be something for the seamers in the Mirpur pitch
but it won't be as exaggerated as it was in the first few matches. There is no
forecast of rain on Wednesday evening.
Stats and trivia
·
In the last encounter between these two sides, Sabbir Rahman
scored a fifty that he still reckons is his best T20I knock.
·
Mohammad Hafeez is 30 runs behind Umar Akmal as Pakistan's highest scorer in
T20Is while Shakib Al Hasan needs 55 more runs to
become the first Bangladesh batsman to reach 1000 T20I
runs.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.