West Indies vs Bangladesh, First T20I: Preview and Predicted Playing XI
Windies and Bangladesh face each other in the final chapter of Tigers' 2018 tour, with the hosts having triumphed 2-0 in the Test series, while Bangladesh leveled the honors after a 2-1 win in ODI series. The two teams are now set to face each other in the shortest format of the game in the first T20I at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts on Wednesday, August 1.
Both teams have faced each other in five completed T20I matches. The hosts have won three of those while the Tigers have won two.
Windies last hosted Bangladesh in a T20 at Warner Park during their 2009 tour. Batting first, the Windies restricted the visitors to 118 from their 20 overs and then convincingly chased the total in 16.5 overs to win the match by five wickets. While their most recent meeting was in 2014 at ICC WT20, where the Caribbeans piled up 171/7 in their 20 overs before bowling Bangladesh out for 98/10 to win the match by 71 runs.
Bangladesh : The Tigers have played ten T20I matches this year and have lost eight of those. In their most recent T20I series, Bangladesh were routed 0-3 against Afghanistan, held in Dehradun, India in June 2018.
With the bat, Tamim Iqbal is going to be the key man for the tourists. He was in brilliant form in the ODI series with scores of 130*, 54 and 103 in the respective matches and was well supported by all-rounder Shakib al Hasan with scores of 97, 56 and 37 respectively. Meanwhile Mushfiqur Rahim had an ordinary ODI series, and the team will need him to click this time.
With the ball, Shakib is Bangladesh's leading wicket-taker in T20Is, while Mustafizur Rahman's return to the T20 outfit will bolster Bangladesh's bowling attack. The pacer took five wickets in the three-match ODI series and the skipper will back him to pick up a few wickets upfront.
Expected Playing XI : Shakib Al Hasan (C), Mahmudullah, Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Abu Hider, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim.
West Indies : Similarly, West Indies have won just two out of the six T20 internationals they have played this year. After beating England by 21 runs in a one-off T20I on their tour of England, the Windies faced a 2-0 series defeat at the hands of New Zealand, before being whitewashed 0-3 by Pakistan at Karachi. They, however, won their most recent T20 encounter - against the ICC World XI by 72 runs at Lord's in May.
In the absence of Chris Gayle, the West Indian batting will depend mainly on Marlon Samuels and Even Lewis. Samuels is the second-highest run-getter for the hosts in T20Is, and he has also scored the most runs at the Warner Park in this format, while Lewis, with an impressive strike-rate of 160, has ability to thrash any bowling lineup.
With the ball, Kesrick Williams and Samuel Badree are the main threats main threats for Bangladesh in this lineup. Williams is the leading wicket taker at this ground with eight T20I wickets in three matches. While Badree, who is the leading T20I wicket-taker for the side with 56 wickets in 49 matches, is expected to get some early breakthroughs and slow down the pace of visitors innings.
Expected Playing XI : Carlos Brathwaite (C), Keemo Paul, Ashley Nurse, Samuel Badree, Kesrick Williams, Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin, Rovman Powell and Andre Russell.