Bangladesh v West Indies – ICC World Cup 2011- Match preview
The knockout stage is yet far away but today’s match between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in the former’s backyard will decide their fate in the ICC 2011 World Cup.
A victory today would extend the stay of the winning team in the Subcontinent while the loser would have to pack their bags for an early departure.
Both the Tigers and Windies will have their eyes firmly on the quarter-final berths when the two outfits clash at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Friday eve.
Group B, which also includes http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, England, and, South Africa, has had an ever-escalating entertainment week but the heroics of Ireland against complacent England have thrown the pool wide open.
England, three-time World Cup finalists, were stunned by the blitz of a belligerent, Kevin O’Brien, who struck the fastest century in the history of cricket World Cups, as the Irish brigade upset title favourites by three wickets.
Both sides will enter the game with two points in their accounts from two games. The co-hosts have defeated Ireland after losing to India, while the team from the Caribbean crushed Netherlands, by a mammoth 215-runs, the biggest margin in the ongoing World
Cup so-far.
The Bengalis will be banking on familiar home conditions and home crowd support but the Caribbean Kings cannot be taken for granted after their colossal victory over Holland.
However, it is being anticipated that the expectations of the home crowd might affect the performance of Tigers in the must win match. The spearhead Bangladesh spinner, Abdur Razzak, has played down the hype and said that the players are focused only on
the match and are not thinking about winning or losing.
"We have practiced very well, the boys are confident of doing well against West Indies", said Razzak while talking to the media reporters. "Every match is a big match for us in the World Cup. We are giving equal importance to all matches, no matter whether
we face http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753 or England", he added further.
The Shere Bangla wicket rewarded spin bowlers with eleven wickets when Bangladesh played http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 here last Friday. Fast bowler, Shafiul Islam, also took advantage of the pitch conditions when it slowed down in the later part of the game.
So Darren Sammy’s side is expected to play two spinners today to match the spin strength of the home side.
The Caribbean side has not played in Bangladesh since 2002. The last encounter between the two sides in 2009 also gives the hosts an edge, as Bengali Tigers thrashed Windies 3-0 at home.
But Darren Sammy and his armoury can take heart from the fact that the crushing came when the side played its second string squad due to a financial spat between the top players and West Indies Cricket Board. Also their recent performance against Netherlands
was remarkable and proves the side is peaking at the right time.
The only challenge the tourists can face in today’s game is handling the spinners in totally unfamiliar territory. However, the team manager is confident the side is up for the challenge.
The challenge for the visitors, who lost to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in their opener before beating the Netherlands, could lie in tackling the spinners, but team manager, Richie Richardson, said the side is up for it.
"Every match is a challenge, everyone is going to be difficult, playing against Bangladesh in Bangladesh will be tough. But we have the ability, (and are) certainly very confident that we can beat Bangladesh", said http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Richardson-c85395.
The visitors have been deprived of a key all-rounder after flamboyant, Dwayne Bravo, was ruled out of the tournament with an injured knee. Nikita Miller was brought in as Bravo’s replacement against Netherlands and an unchanged squad is expected to be fielded
today by Sammy.
Teams
Bangladesh (probable XI) 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rubel-Hossain-c2378.
West Indies (probable XI) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Benn-c47745, 10 Nikita Miller, 11 Kemar Roach.
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