Bangladesh player Shakib al Hasan will ease back into his comeback series as he was named to bat in the middle order.
In the 2019 World Cup, Shakib al Hasan successfully batted at number 3. Now that he is returning to the team, he will still bat in the middle order. However, he will not be on his former spot as this has been already taken by Najmul Hossain Shanto. With that, fans can expect to see Shakib batting at no.4 for the upcoming ODI series against the West Indies.
Shakib was last seen playing at the 2019 World Cup as he had been sanctioned with a one-year ban afterwards. This was given to him by the ICC after having failed to inform authorities of illegal approaches made by bookies. With that, the upcoming series with the West Indies will be seen as his professional comeback to the sport.
In preparation for the said tour, the Bangladesh side has also decided to add players like Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud in their roster. That decision has been made by the board to fine-tune their preparations for the upcoming World Cup that is to be played in 2023.
As per Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo, ‘It is a big series for us. World Cup qualifying points are up for grabs. We want to make sure that we can start our campaign really well. We are definitely focusing one game at a time. We want to start the series well’.
‘It (the combination) depends very much on conditions. We have Shakib in the side who will be bowling ten overs. In the sub-continent, you always want to have one other full-on spinner. We need to decide who that is going to be. You always want to bowl twenty overs of spin in sub-continent conditions. Maybe one or two part-timers. But you also need to make sure you have enough pacemen in case the wicket offers something to the fast bowlers’.
Domingo also said that it’s really nice to have Shakib back in the team. He also stated that Shanto is in a really good form. Aside from that, he confirmed that they are still finalizing the final XI to establish the team lineup that they will use in the 2023 World Cup.
Bangladesh and West Indies are scheduled to play their three ODIs on January 20 and 22 in Dhaka and 25 in Chattogram. So far, the odds for the first game are -294.12 for Bangladesh and +204 for the West Indies. To know the odds for other upcoming matches, visit Betwala.
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