Taunton: Bangladesh will have the psychological advantage when they face West Indies though both teams are sailing in the same boat as far as their World Cup campaign is concerned.
Bangladesh beat West Indies as many as three times in tri-series that Ireland hosted ahead of the World Cup. Even though West Indies stars such as Chris Gayle and Andre Russell were not part of that series, Jason Holder’s team still must be smarting from those three consecutive losses last month.
Both teams are on three points from four games, having lost two games with one game each being a washout. Bangladesh, who last played on June 8 when they lost to England, will be itching to take the field after a forced break of one week with the game against Sri Lanka called off due to rain. They had the opportunity to score two points against a struggling Sri Lanka before the weather sealed their fate. The Mashrafe Mortaza-led side has batted pretty well so far but needs to step up in the bowling department. The bowlers conceded as many as 386 runs against England in Cardiff and it was too much of an ask for the batsmen who ended at 280. West Indies, on the other hand, need to change their approach in batting. Most of their batsmen seem to be in T20 mode while playing 50-over cricket.
“Our batters needed to take more ownership and form a few more partnerships. We needed to dig in deep and need to correct it. It has happened twice in two games now. We misread the wicket in terms of pace and didn’t get the short balls high enough. Were a bit erratic as well,” Holder had said after the loss to England on Friday.
Legendary Clive Lloyd feels the West Indies have got the firepower in both their batting and bowling to go all the way in the ongoing World Cup. West Indies have won one match out of four till now, having lost two while the other one was a wash-out.
“Eleven points will probably be enough to get a Team into the top four, and considering they still have the likes of New Zealand and India to play, it is now or never,” Lloyd wrote in a column for the ICC website. Lloyd captained West Indies to World Cup victories in 1975 and 1979.
Squads: West Indies: Jason Holder,Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle,Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Abu Jayed, Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Mithun, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal. (PTI)
