Big picture – England favourites despite missing stars
But he was quick to point out that he would take notes from how England rebuild their team for the upcoming T20 World Cup, to be player next year. That’s how good England are at the moment.
Bangladesh LLWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WWWWL
Hridoy and Talukdar are likely to be in Bangladesh’s playing XI, and they are leaning towards three fast bowlers. They usually don’t use spinners at the death in T20Is.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Rony Talukdar, 2 Litton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Hasan Mahmud, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
England don’t have too many players to choose from because of injuries. It is likely that Reece Topley, who is nursing a slight niggle, and Mark Wood will miss out from the first game.
England (probable): 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Duckett, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Rehan Ahmed, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Jofra Archer
The first T20I will be played on the same pitch where the third ODI was played earlier in the week. So expect a slow pitch and no real lateral movement. The weather will be dry.
“[England] have a very settled 50-over team. They are experimenting with the T20 team. I don’t think the team that won the 2022 World Cup will play in 2024 World Cup. That’s why they are trying new players. They are systematically building the team towards that. We can keep an eye on how they do it, as well.”
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha on the England line-up
“It’s a great opportunity for us to hopefully lay down a marker again as world champions. We haven’t played a series since we won that World Cup so it’s a challenge for us in these conditions but it’s exciting to play here against obviously a very good Bangladesh side.”
Chris Woakes is expecting a fair challenge on England’s return to T20Is