Bangladesh will be keen to take advantage of their last opportunity to find their perfect combination ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 when they take on Ireland in their last warm-up match at Fatullah today. Bangladesh will face Afghanistan on March 16 to open the three-week global Twenty20 tournament. Team management will be provided with an opportunity to assess the condition of pace bowler Mashrafee bin Murtaza, who is currently undergoing rehab for a side strain injury.
‘Though the team has yet to be selected, he does have a chance as we would like to see him in match conditions,’ chief selector Faruk Ahmed said on Thursday.
‘Apart from that, it would be an ideal platform for everyone to know their role in this format.’
‘We know [Ireland] are a tough opponent, as some of their players are playing cricket as overseas players in different Twenty20 tournaments, so I believe it will be an ideal preparation ahead of the March 16 match.’
Though the national team took the day off on Thursday, Mashrafee bowled in the nets to regain his physical fitness.
Ireland have already defeated Bangladesh once, in a 2009 ICC World Twenty20 match in Nottingham, and they will be hungry to come hard against the hosts and make a stronger claim to raise their status in world cricket.
Bangladesh have won three out of their four Twenty20s against the Irish and would like to keep the upper hand after breaking free of a cycle of defeat in the last match against the UAE, which they dominated as had been expected.
‘Twenty20 is a tricky format and it was nice to be back on winning track,’ said Faruk.
‘I guess we failed to execute our plans in the first six overs, and that is important as it plays a huge part in setting up the tempo of the game.
‘I would like the pace bowlers to be a little more attacking than what they were in the last match,’ he added.
TODAY’S WT20 WARM UP MATCHES
Nepal v UAE at Fatullah 9:30am
Bangladesh v Ireland at Fatullah 3:30pm
Afghanistan v Zimbabwe at Chittagong 9:30am
Hong Kong v Netherlands at Chittagong 3:30pm
-With New Age input
