Bangladesh will host the Netherlands in the first of three T20I matches to be played between the two teams at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, August 30. The home team have a big advantage over their opponents owing to the quality they have in their ranks, and will be keen on showcasing their skills as much as possible.
The venue was selected to be Sylhet and not Dhaka because the Bangladesh Cricket Board felt that the pitches in the latter were not conducive to shot-making in white-ball cricket. This series is being played by Bangladesh primarily to prepare themselves for the upcoming Asia Cup, slated to be held in the United Arab Emirates next month.
For the Dutch, this series aims to provide a lot of exposure to their players. This is the first time that Holland are travelling to Bangladesh to play them in a bilateral T20I series, and one can expect them to provide tough challenges to their opponents. For the Bangla Tigers, a lot rests on how they perform in this tournament and the ways in which they improve their T20 skills.
In the UAE, where the Asia Cup will be held, they will encounter a lot of true batting pitches, and that is what they will aim to recreate here in Sylhet. The dominance of spinners may get reduced owing to this, but Bangladesh’s batters will not mind at all. For the Dutch, this is an excellent opportunity to prove their wares in the Indian subcontinent and showcase to the world that they, too, can succeed on these dry but flat pitches that are good for batting.
Predicted teams
BAN: Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Litton Das (c & wk), Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.
PAK: Vikramjit Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Tim Pringle, Scott Edwards (c & wk), Fred Klaassen, Ryan Klein, Aryan Dutt, Shariz Ahmad, Daniel Doram, Paul van Meekeren.
Key Players
Shoriful Islam (BAN): Shoriful Islam is a player that the Dutch have to be aware of in this game. The left-arm seamer is known to get the ball to move back in to right-handers while swinging it away from southpaws and causing them immense discomfort. Islam is also known to hit the deck hard and get the pitch to assist him in the death overs. Moreover, he has a lot of variations up his sleeve, including slower deliveries and cutters that can fox any batter.
Scott Edwards (NED): Captain Scott Edwards, who is also the wicketkeeper of the Netherlands, will be one of their most fearsome players to look out for. Edwards is known to be extremely good at rotating the strike when he is batting and is equally trustworthy behind the stumps. With the bat, Edwards can balance both scoring quickly and rotating the strike as and when the situation demands him to do so. He has been at the forefront of the new approach that Dutch cricket have taken across the world.
Match Prediction
Bangladesh have a massive advantage over their opponents in this game, primarily because of the depth of quality in their ranks. The Netherlands are not even a Test-playing nation, and can therefore be considered as minnows in the right sense of the word. For the Dutch, this series will be mainly to gain experience in these conditions and against world-class spinners, but for the hosts, everything leads to their preparations for the Asia Cup and how they can aim for the title there by dislodging giants India and Pakistan. Bangladesh are expected to win this game.
