Bangladesh-India historic series start today through T20I

It has almost been two decades since Bangladesh got the Test status and during the long period, the Tigers were hosted for at least one full-series by every big cricketing nation except India.

But the long wait is coming to an end as Bangladesh are now set to start a historic full series against the neighbouring country today through a T20I at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. 

The match is scheduled to start at 7:30pm (Bangladesh time). The match will be telecast live by Gtv. 

While the first rubber is on November 3, the remaining two games will be played on November 7 and 10 respectively in Rajkot and Nagpur. After the T20Is series, Bangladesh and India will lock horns in a two-match Test series, with the first Test being played in Indore from November 14 and the second one being hosted by Kolkata from November 22, which will be a day-night affair.

Neither Bangladesh nor India played a day-night Test yet. 

Before heading to the series, Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah Riyad said they will bid for their maiden T20 win against India on Sunday in Delhi. At the same time, he reckoned that it will be not an easy task for them. 

“The issue of Shakib is gone by now. He has been a fantastic performer for Bangladesh over the years. We have all the support for him. He made a mistake but he didn’t commit a crime. I think the young guys will take the chance and do well. We’re now much more focused on our game. We’ll be bidding for a win tomorrow (November 3),” Mahmudllah told the media on Saturday. 

Bangladesh played eight T20Is against India before heading to this game but failed to bring the result in their favour in any of them. Along with fighting against India, Bangladesh have to show more courage to play in the smoggy weather of Delhi, which has attracted the attention hugely right before the series started. 

“We have a chat about the condition. But we really have nothing about it. It’s not under our control. The team have three practice sessions in this condition. We’ve tried to adapt to the condition. We are not much worried about it. We rather are focusing on our game,” Mahmudllah added. 

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had to announce the T20 squad for India tour twice for losing Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Saifuddin and Shakib. Mohammad Mithun, Abu Hider Rony and Taijul Islam earned the call to replace them. At the same time, BCB named Mahmudullah as the stand-in captain to replace regular leader Shakib. Mahmudullah said he is taking this captaincy stint as a challenge. 

“I’ve done it before both in T20Is and Tests when Shakib was out of action due to injuries. So, the captaincy is not a burden on me. I don’t think this way. I’m rather taking it as an opportunity to lead my team. We just need to play as a team, we need to execute our plans collectively, which could make sure a good result for us,” he also told the media. 

While Bangladesh are going to miss the services of Shakib, Tamim and Saifuddin, India are also set to miss Virat Kohli, Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja in the series, who are rested for T20Is but are named in the Test squad. 

Bangladesh have to rely massively on the young guys- Mohammad Naim, Aminul Islam. At the same time, they are expecting more from Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, and Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, who have been playing in the national team for a notable time now but yet to deliver what they are expected to do. 

Rohit Sharma, the stand-in captain of India, said they are not taking Bangladesh lightly in spite of the absence of two key players in Tamim and Shakib. 

“They’re a very very good team. They’ve been playing a good brand of cricket for a few years. Not just at the home but they performed well abroad as well. I understand they’re going to miss two key players. Despite this fact, they have quality players in their arsenal. They can beat any team in their day,” Rohit told the media.