Muscat:The excitement of T20 is not going away for the cricket fans as after the culmination of the IPL 2021 on Friday, ICC 2021 T20 World Cup kicks off in the Middle East (UAE and Oman) with Bangladesh taking on Scotland in a Round 1 encounter in Muscat on Sunday.
Placed in Group B with minnows Scotland, Oman and Papua New Guinea; Bangladesh are considered the heavy favourites to find one of the four spots of the Super 12, which begins from October 24 with a high-voltage India vs Pakistan match.
However, before we get down to the mega clash, Bangladesh, along with Sri Lanka in Group A, will have to book their slots while battling the second tier ICC sides in the coming days.
Saying that the history hasn't often been in favour of Bangladesh in the T20 competition, hosted by India, as they never made it to the knockout stages of the tournament.
To Bangladesh's credit, they are not the minnows of the game they once were. That's certainly evident from the fact that they have won as many as nine T20Is this season -- including series wins over Australia and New Zealand at home. The fine display in the shorter format elevated them to the sixth spot in the ICC rankings ahead of Australia, West Indies and Afghanistan.
The team's main attraction has been captain Mahmudullah, who became the most successful captain of the nation after taming the Kiwis. The skipper also enjoys a rich haul of veteran cricketers Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim among his ranks and are the mainstay of Bangladesh batting.
Apart from them, top-order batters Liton Das, Mohammad Naim have a bigger role to play in absence of veteran opener Tamim Iqbal. The selectors have also included young batter Afif Hossain in order to add more depth to the batting.
As far as bowling is concerned, spinners have always been their core strength with the likes of Shakib, Mahedi Hasan shouldering the responsibility of taking wickets as early as the powerplay. Young spinner Shamim Hossain is also among the inclusions and would like to bank on the UAE surfaces left slow by the IPL teams.
Bangladesh's pace attack has enough venom as well with the likes of Mustafizzur, Taskin Ahmed and Mohammed Saifuddin among their ranks. The team has also added young fast bowler Shamim Hossain to the squad and will be an interesting proposition given the pace he generates.
Scotland, on the other hand, will have to punch above their weight if they want to defeat their experienced rivals.
Featuring in their fourth world cup, Scotland's captain Kyle Coetzer will be hoping that his in-form batters George Munsey continues the good work.
The team, mentored by former English cricketer Jonathan Trott, also has Calum MacLeod and Richie Berrington among its ranks and will be expected to fire as they did in a big win over Zimbabwe back in September.
Their bowlers include some experienced English county customers in Brad Wheal and Josh Davey, who took 30 wickets between them last season but lack of depth is still a worry for the side.(UNI)