Tigers face West Indies in a must-win match
Both Bangladesh and the West Indies were defeated in their first two matches.
Bangladesh and the West Indies, so far, have met in T20 World Cups twice. Bangladesh humbled the West Indies in the 2007 edition whereas the Caribbeans avenged the loss in 2014. Since the 2016 T20 World Cup, the two teams have met each other six times- three matches have been won by Bangladesh and three by the West Indies. Both the teams lost a key player to injury after two Super 12s matches. Bangladesh lost Mohammad Saifuddin and the West Indies lost Obed McCoy. Both Bangladesh and the West Indies were defeated in their first two matches.
There are many striking similarities between the two sides but one of them will have an opportunity on Friday to open their account in the tournament. On the other hand, the team losing this match is likely to be out of the tournament. Both the teams have been battered by England and their net run rate has also taken a beating. This is going to be a do-or-die game not only for Bangladesh but also for the West Indies to stay alive in the mega event.
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Bangladesh might have to change their strategy
Bangladesh had been pretty good at defending totals in the recent past but that has not been the case in the World Cup. They have now lost three matches batting first in the tournament. In fact, only once has a team won defending in the tournament so far. So Bangladesh might just have to come up with a different plan. Also, their strategy of going spin-heavy hasn't clicked so far. But it can work against the West Indies as they are not known to be well-equipped to face spin. Bangladesh have some selection issues to sort out and one of them is the opening combination. Liton Das has constantly failed with the bat and has one of the worst records as a batter in the ongoing tournament. Bangladesh's poor performance especially in the first six overs have been hurting them real bad and they must find a solution as soon as possible.
Small ground might favour the West Indies batters
The Sharjah International Stadium is one of the most prolific grounds in terms of six-hitting and the short boundaries will help the powerful West Indies batters to clear the boundaries easily. Since the 2016 World Cup, no team has hit more sixes than the West Indies and Sharjah is nearly a perfect ground for them to bounce back. In-form Evin Lewis will be licking his lips to be out there. Only Glenn Philips has struck more maximums than him in T20 cricket this year. Lewis has hit 82 sixes in just 31 innings this year and has also been in good touch in the World Cup. The famous batting line-up of the West Indies hasn't quite fired so far but the likes of Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell will be keen to regain their form against Bangladesh.
A battle between WI batters and Bangladesh spinners
Against South Africa, Lendl Simmons played an excruciatingly slow knock of 16 off 35 deliveries opening the innings. West Indies might drop him for Roston Chase or newly included Jason Holder. If that happens, Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis will be opening the innings and that's where the spinners especially Mahedi Hasan will come into play. It won't be surprising if Bangladesh go all-out spin in the powerplay against West Indies. They've historically been slow starters against spin in the first six overs. During this period, West Indies have scored at a rate of 6.96 against spin in T20Is while the rate is much higher against pace- 8.46. Gayle's strike rate drops down to 95.89 while facing off-spin in the powerplay in T20Is. Lewis' numbers are not great either. He strikes at powerplay against this particular type of bowling. So Mahmudullah will rely on Mahedi and the other spinners to tie these two down. Also, Bangladesh bowlers need to bowl smartly on an asymmetrical ground like Sharjah and try to make the batters hit towards the bigger side of the ground, something Moeen Ali did against the West Indies.
The match will be held in Sharjah at 2 pm local time (4 pm BDST) on Friday.
Bangladesh (probable XI): 1 Mohammad Naim, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim, 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Shoriful Islam, 10 Nasum Ahmed, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
West Indies: (probable XI): 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 4 Chris Gayle, 5 Kieron Pollard (capt), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Shimron Hetmyer, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Hayden Walsh, 10 Akeal Hosein, 11 Ravi Rampaul
Form
Bangladesh: LLWWLL
West Indies: LLLWL
