Pakistan v Bangladesh World T20 preview - Match 14

Having already played three proper matches in India, Bangladesh has a measure of the conditions, and will know what to expect. It will also have settled on the combination. Tamim Iqbal’s form at the top has been striking – against Oman, he became the first Bangladeshi to score a Twenty20 International century. Sabbir Rahman has also shown good touch, while Shakib Al Hasan has been amongst the wickets.

Whether Mustafizur Rahman, the left-arm pacer, is fit to return to the side remains to be seen – Mashrafe Mortaza, the captain, said a call would be taken on the day of the match – but he was seen having an extensive session in the nets, and if he does return, the side will be further fortified.

Mashrafe said the team was confident. “Obviously, there is some confidence,” he said. “In the last one-and-a-half years, we played good cricket in ODIs, but T20Is were always difficult for us. But last three-four weeks we’ve been playing good cricket in T20Is. Confidence is there, and we want to make it count.

“They (Pakistan) have more experience than us. In the last two months in this format, we’ve been having good practice back home; we had a good Asia Cup. We’ve planned better and have some exciting players in our side. But if you go over the history, Pakistan is much better.”

Mashrafe was insistent on making it count. And Pakistan will know that as things stand, Bangladesh is well placed to do so.

Teams (from)
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Irfan, Sharjeel Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Sami, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Amir, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Ahmed Shahzad.
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Arafat Sunny, Mahmudullah, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Sabbir Rehman, Abu Hider, Nurul Hasan, Al-Amin Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammed Mithun, Mustafizur Rahman.