Tigers’ campaign starts today

There are concerns as well as expectations of a victory as Bangladesh begin their T20 World Cup campaign today by taking on Netherlands at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Shakib Al Hasan and Co will be eager to clinch their first win in the main round of the T20 World Cup since 2007, but it won’t be an easy task against an upbeat Netherlands side, who managed to qualify for the Super 12 stage following some hard-fought wins in the first round.

Dutch batter Tom Cooper even expressed his teams’ confidence by suggesting that it won’t be an upset if Netherlands manages to beat Bangladesh.

“You guys suggested it will be an upset [if Netherlands win], but we don’t see it that way. We are here to compete. We have got close against these guys in the past. I don’t see any reason that we can’t knock them off tomorrow [today],” Cooper told the media yesterday ahead of today’s game.

Bangladesh’s performance in recent times can work as morale-booster for the Netherlands as the Tigers are yet to prove their worth in the shortest format of the game since the debacle in the last T20 World Cup.

Too many experiments in recent times in team combination, especially in the opening batting positions since the appointment of Sridharan Sriram as technical consultant, is yet to yield any fruitful result.

Apart from skipper Shakib, it will be important that the likes of Afif Hossain and Liton Das to put their hands up in the batting department at the biggest stage.

Bangladesh’s bowling department, especially the pace-bowling unit, also needs to fire. The team management will expect experienced Mustafizur Rahman to overcome his lean patch and come back strongly. The likes of Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud and Shoriful Islam are the other probables to lead the fast-bowling department in seamer-friendly conditions.

However, weather can play foul in Hobart where the forecast suggests there will be rain, which has hampered preparations for both teams ahead of the game.