As the cricket season heats up, fans are eagerly waiting for the upcoming matches, including the highly anticipated first T20I between Bangladesh and England. The match is scheduled to take place on March 9 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. This match has generated a lot of buzz, and fans are eagerly waiting to find out which team will come out on top.
England, the current T20 World Cup champions, are set to take on Bangladesh in their first T20I match since winning the tournament in Australia in November 2022. However, England’s form in white-ball cricket has been below par since their World Cup triumph. They suffered losses against South Africa and Australia before finally managing to get back to winning ways with an ODI victory against Bangladesh.
On the other hand, Bangladesh will be eager to avenge their ODI loss against England. They lost the first two games of the series, but managed to come back and win the third ODI by 50 runs. However, the win was not enough to prevent them from suffering their first home series defeat in seven years in ODIs. Bangladesh will be looking to turn things around and start their T20I campaign on a winning note.
Eng vs Ban 1st T20I Match Prediction
The probable playing XIs for the match are listed below. Bangladesh’s squad includes Litton Das, Najmul Shanto, Rony Talukdar, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Towhid Hrifoy, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, and Mustafizur Rahman.
Meanwhile, England’s squad includes Jos Buttler (c & wk), Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Dawid Malan, Will Jacks, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, and Adil Rashid.
One major concern for England is the absence of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes, who were part of the recent Test series against New Zealand. This might prompt the management to hand 18-year-old spin all-rounder Rehan Ahmed a T20I debut. Ahmed recently became England’s youngest player to play Tests and ODIs.
The pitch at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium is expected to be balanced and offer a good surface for batters to score big knocks. However, pacers might find it challenging to get wickets, while spinners might enjoy a good turn once the ball gets old. The average first innings score here is 145, with teams batting first winning ten out of the 20 T20Is played at this venue so far.
In terms of probable best performers from both sides, England skipper Jos Buttler is expected to continue his good form with the bat. He scored 111 runs from three ODIs against Bangladesh, including a fifty in the second game.
Buttler was also the leading run-getter in the SA20 2023 tournament, his last T20 outing. He was England’s leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2022, with 225 runs from six innings, and will be looking to continue his momentum against Bangladesh.
On the bowling front, Adil Rashid is expected to be the best performer for England. The 35-year-old spinner has been in sensational form in white-ball cricket. He took eight wickets from three ODIs against Bangladesh to become England’s third-highest leading wicket-taker in 50-over cricket. Rashid was excellent in the SA20 2023 tournament, taking 14 wickets from 10 innings for the Pretoria Capitals.
So, who will win today’s match? Based on current form and team composition, England is the favorite to win the match. However, anything can happen.
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