Sports Reporter :
After posting a thumping seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) on July 20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the capital’s Mirpur, the Tigers will take on Pakistan in the second T20I at the same venue today. The match will begin at 6:00pm (Bangladesh Standard Time). Captain Litton Das of Bangladesh will lead his team, while Captain of Pakistan Salman Ali Agha will lead his team.
Private satellite sports channel T Sports will telecast the match live.
Bangladesh led the three-match T20I series 1-0. If Bangladesh win the today’s T20I match, Bangladesh will clinch the T20I series with one match in the hand.
On the other hand, if Pakistan win the today’s T20I match, Pakistan will level the series 1-1. In that case the fate of the three-match T20I series will be decided in the last and final T20I match, which is scheduled to be held at the same venue on July 24.
After tasting a seven-wicket defeat to the hosts, Head Coach of Pakistan Cricket team Mike Hesson said, “The wicket was not acceptable. The pitch was not international standard. Our batters also failed to perform.”
But he gave priority to the ‘unplayable wicket’.
Opener Parvez Hossain Emon, who remained unbeaten with 56 runs. He cracked five sixes and three fours in his 39-ball innings. After the match, Emon said, ” I didn’t feel that the wicket was unacceptable. We scored 112 runs playing 15.3 overs. If we could play 20 overs, we could score 160 runs. I think might be the batters of our opponent team could not adapt with the wicket. On the other hand, we tried our level best to settle in the pitch.”
He said, ” The bowlers usually get advantage and obtain benefit in the wickets of Mirpur.”
He also said, ” They have class bowlers, who have played a good number of international matches. They have experienced bowlers.”
“We performed well in the recently concluded T20I series against Sri Lanka. We won that series. That inspired us to increase our confidence”, he added.
Bangladesh T20I squad: Litton Das (Captain), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammad Nayeem, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali Anik, Shamim Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mohammad Saifuddin.
Pakistan T20I squad:Salman Ali Agha (Captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Haris (Wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (Wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza and Sufyan Moqim.
