Bangladesh Captain Mahmudullah Riyad chose to bowl first against West Indies in their crucial Super 12 match of the Twenty20 World Cup after winning the toss today at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. A defeat in the match would ruin Bangladesh's hope to play the semifinal of the tournament. Bangladesh so far remained winning-less in the Super 12 after tasting a five-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka and a crushing eight-wicket loss to England.
"We had a bit of look at the stats. They've got a big batting order depth, so we'll try to restrict them to a decent total and try to chase it down," Mahmudullah said after the toss. He also confirmed two changes of Bangladesh from the previous game with Soumya Sarkar and fast bowler Taskin Ahmed replacing Nasum Ahmed and Nurul Hasan Sohan who got injured during the practice session.
The match is also a kind of 'do or die' match to West Indies after losing first two matches to England and South Africa. The defending champions in fact is in more tricky position that Bangladesh after being all out for 55 runs against England. Even against South Africa they were restricted to 143-8
despite being boasted with so many power-hitters.
West Indies, however, also came up with two changes. Lendl Simmons and Hayden Walsh were dropped to make the way for Jason Holder and Roston Chase. Chris Gale will open the innings after some time now for West Indies.
"It is (do or die). That's the reality of the situation. We don't have anyone to blame but ourselves, so it's on ourselves to get out of this situation. We need to give the bowlers something to defend," West Indies captain Keiron Pollard said.
Line Ups:
Bangladesh: Liton Das (wk), Naim Sheikh, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad (captain), Afif Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Mahedi Hasan, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard (captain), Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein and Ravi Rampaul.