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Bangladesh will be taking on Scotland in perhaps the most important game of Group B in the preliminary round of the ICC men’s T20 World Cup 2021. The two teams will be opening up their campaign with a potentially riveting encounter at Al Amerat, Oman on Sunday.
Considered the two favourites to qualify from Group B to the Super 12 stage, Bangladesh and Scotland will be hoping to make a winning start to their tournament. Or they risk putting themselves in a knock-out situation against co-hosts Oman and Papua New Guinea, who aren’t going to be easy pushovers either.
Ahead of the clash, the two teams have had contrasting results during the warm-up round. While Scotland won both of their practise games against the Netherlands and Namibia, Bangladesh suffered defeats to Sri Lanka and Ireland.
Scotland (1.230) also have a better win-loss ratio than Bangladesh (0.724) in T20Is since the previous edition of the T20 World Cup. But the more experienced Bangladesh side have defeated multiple full-members in this period, unlike their associate rivals, who hardly get to play the major teams.
Key players
Shakib Al Hasan might be tired because of the rapid turnaround from IPL 2021 final in Dubai for Kolkata Knight Riders to Bangladesh’s first game of an event like the T20 World Cup in Oman. But his country needs him to be at his best as an all-round cricketer if they are to keep the three leading associates at bay and make the Super 12s.
Shakib’s presence in either department holds the key for Bangladesh. He has an economy rate of only 6.73 after 88 games as a left-arm spinner in T20Is and has also scored 1,763 runs.
Richie Berrington – Scotland’s vice-captain for the tournament – has scored 927 runs in this period from his 29 innings at an average of 46.35 and strike-rate of 136.12, including five half-centuries. The experienced right-hander has only taken his game to the next level in T20Is over the last five years.
Mustafizur Rahman is going to be another key player for Bangladesh as long they survive and compete in the competition. Known for his deceptive cutters and slower balls and the ability to execute the yorker when required, Mustafizur is expected to be a difficult prospect to handle for batters in conditions in UAE. He also looked in good form and rhythm through the second half of IPL 2021 on similar surfaces.
Soumya Sarkar and his quickfire starts at the top could be crucial for Bangladesh, given that the surfaces in Oman and UAE are expected to deteriorate quickly and offer the spinners grip and turn through the middle-overs. With life expected to be more difficult for middle-order batters, Bangladesh need someone to help them maximise the powerplay restrictions when the tracks will be at their most fresh. With that in mind, left-hander Sarkar can be a real handful if he gets going.
George Munsey has been a fantastic top-order aggressor for his country in T20Is. His numbers make him one of his team’s best T20I batters since the end of the last T20 World Cup. In this span of over five years, Munsey has made 928 runs at a strike-rate of 156.22 while maintaining a healthy average of 32.00. The Scotland opener has made more half-centuries (6) than any other Scottish player and is also their only centurion in this period.
Mark Watt the left-arm spinner has been Scotland’s most efficient performer with the ball since the end of the 2016 T20 World Cup. From then till now, Watt has taken 34 wickets from 25 T20Is with an economy rate of only 6.90. If Scotland are to compete and win over Bangladesh in what is expected to be a battle of spin, they’ll need Watt to be at his best and help them conquer the Asian challenge at the start of the campaign.
Prediction
Much will depend on the surface in Oman. If it is dry and spin-friendly, Bangladesh will be the frontrunners as such conditions will enhance the impact of their spin depth – both with the bat and with the ball – and expose this chink in Scotland’s armoury.
Bangladesh made giants like Australia and New Zealand look hopeless recently on similar surfaces at home, although those bordered on the line of excessively turning tracks. They defeated the tourists 4-1 and 3-2 in respective five-match series.
However, if the track behaves true and is good to consistently hit the ball off the square, the tables may be reversed completely as that would allow Scotland’s batting depth and power-hitting skills to come to the fore.
But in a tricky pressure game, experience also counts for a lot, and this is where Bangladesh are undoubtedly ahead of Scotland and are expected to come out on top.
