WI's pedigree or Tigers' momentum?
Bangladesh will embark on the three-match T20I series against West Indies today with the first match to take place from 6:30am Bangladesh time in St Kitts. The Tigers recovered from their dismal showing in the Test series loss by winning the three-ODI series 2-1, but they face a much tougher test as their opponents are two-time world champions in the shortest format.
West Indies are a different team in T20Is -- while they seemed outmatched by the Mashrafe Bin Mortaza-led Bangladesh side in the ODIs, a lot of their stars like captain Carlos Brathwaite, Marlon Samuels and Andre Fletcher will feature in the T20Is. While the hosts have rested the best T20 batsman in opener Chris Gayle, they will be boosted by the return of the hard-hitting Andre Russell -- who missed the last two ODIs against Bangladesh through injury -- and there will be the continued presence of explosive opener Evin Lewis.
Bangladesh on the other hand will be weakened by the absence of the inspirational Mashrafe, who retired from T20Is in April 2017. T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan will seek to continue the momentum and as Bangladesh's most experienced T20 player, will have to play a central role to do so.
The senior cricketers -- Shakib, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad -- did the lion's share of the work with the bat in the ODIs, and they will once again be needed to make the difference in the T20I series. Tamim's opening partner is an area of concern, and it will be interesting to see who among Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das are chosen to reprise the role they played in the format in recent times.
The two countries have played six T20Is against each other, with Bangladesh winning two and losing three, while the other game, the sides' last encounter in Basseterre in 2014, ended in a no-result.
The second T20I will take place on August 4 in Florida, which will also be the venue for the tour-ending third T20I on August 5.
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