Bangladesh and England put the 50 over game behind them on Thursday and focus on the 20 over format when they meet in the first of three T20 matches to conclude this white ball tour for the world champions.
We’re around 18 months out from the next T20 World Cup so there isn’t much in the way of context to these matches and that can be seen with the squad Bangladesh have selected for it but there are still winners to be had.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh are very strong in the 50 over format but they are nothing like as strong in the 20 over one even in their own conditions. They haven’t really featured in the last two T20 World Cups and while they have done enough to ensure they are back for the next one, they’ve never really been all that competitive if we are honest. They will want to change that ahead of the next such tournament but these things don’t happen overnight.
The big problem Bangladesh have in this format of the game is their key bowlers only get four overs. In ODI cricket the likes of Shakib-al-Hasan and Mustafizur get 20 overs to do their thing and can make real damage but sides know they can sit on them a little in 20 over cricket and get stuck in at the other end. They always seem to have a batting depth issue in this format of the game but the Bangladesh Premier League wasn’t so long ago so that might keep them competitive.
England
It is hard to say that England are best suited to this format of the game but they are very good at it as they showed in Australia when they took down the last T20 World Cup. This will be their first outing in this format since they won that World Cup and I think you would have to say that they are going to build their way up to the next tournament. A number of players who competed against Pakistan in that November final aren’t here for various reasons.
The one thing England will look to do over the next 18 months or so is build a wealth of bowling options that covers all bases. They will generally pick for the form players at that time with the bat but they know how important it is to have an attack for all conditions so we can expect them to rotate their bowlers and put players in different situations to see who they can move forward with. That will start here with some Test players still missing.
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Team News
Bangladesh will be much changed from the ODI matches. There will be no Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah or Taijul Islam. Taskin Ahmed will return to the side while Rony Talukdar and Towhid Hridoy could get debuts.
England aren’t going to make too many changes from the ODIs but there is still no Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook or Alex Hales from their World Cup winning side. Jason Roy has been released to play in the PSL so Ben Duckett will come into the batting unit.
Betting
Sam Curran has been a key feature in T20 cricket for England in the last few months and given his form in the ODIs you’ve got to think that he is going to have a big part to play in this opening match as well. He took four wickets in the first of the ODIs he played and then two in the second. In that second one he actually batted at five. One reason for that is he is a decent player of spin so it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if that was to happen again.
He has a performance line of 35.5 which feels a little on the low side when you consider how involved in this match he could be. He is going to bowl four overs, a couple of which is likely to be at the death where he might be bowling to the tail, and he is likely to bat at some point whether that is in the top five or after that. He is capable of clearing this line with the ball but add in any batting and fielding points and the over looks a good thing.
Tips
Back S.Curran’s Performance – Over 35.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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