Bangladesh vs Scotland Preview - Its David vs Goliath on Day 1 in the ICC T20 World Cup
It has not even been 48 hours since the completion of the Indian Premier League, and here we are, in the grandest stage of all. Feels weird, doesn't it? With very little time to bounce back, it might be a little difficult for the viewers to shake the IPL off and accommodate themselves into the setting of the T20 World Cup, but if the players can, so can we. Gone are the playoffs, the league stage, the T20 World Cup offers a different feel to the tournament. There is a qualifiers stage, then a super 12 and semi-final and finals. Read more about that here. The inaugural day of the tournament starts with the qualifier or the first round of the tournament. Two groups of four teams each are going to go at each other’s throats and only 2 teams from each group can move into the next round of the tournament, the Super 12. While newcomers Oman and Papua New Guinea fight it out in the inaugural game of Group A, veterans Bangladesh and Scotland are going to face each other in a crucial match in Group B. This opening game could not have been more important given the team winning this encounter will be virtually assured of a spot in the next phase of the tournament. Bangladesh come into the match as clear favourites and the more established of the two teams. They have defeated Australia and New Zealand in back to back T20I series in their own home and are currently enjoying their best period of T20 cricket. However, any intuitive watcher of the game would tell you that the pitches Bangladesh produced in Dhaka has a hell and heaven difference from the ones that they are going to get in the UAE and Oman. And this is ratified by their recent outings against Ireland and Srilanka where they lost both matches. While it could once again be argued that they did not have a full-strength team in either of those, but not having Shakib al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad should be an excuse to losing against teams who have not done anything of significance in the run-up to the World Cup in the context of world cricket. Scotland on the other hand will wear the badge of underdogs and go up against a team that are clear favourites in the first round of the tournament. However, they have punched above their weight before and they can certainly punch above their weight again. While Bangladesh have lost two on the bounce, Scotland have clinically ticked off Netherlands and Namibia in their warm-up games. Their star player George Munsey looked in good touch against Namibia scoring 67 runs off just 41 balls, and if he gets going, he has the potential to get Bangladesh in trouble. Match Details Scotland vs Bangladesh Match Number - 2 Date & Time - 17 October, 7:30 PM IST (6 PM local) Venue - Oman Cricket Academy Ground, Al Amerat Broadcast & Stream - Star Sports network, Disney+Hotstar Pitch Report Given this is the early phase of the tournament, one can expect a good batting wicket. But the pitches in these parts of the world have a reputation of gripping as the match goes on. We have already seen dew playing a big part in the night games in the UAE and this one should be no different. Win the toss and bowl first should be a safe bet to go with. Players to watch out for Scotland George Munsey Munsey stays low and Munsey hits big. The left-hander opening batter is recently coming off a big score against Namibia. Munsey is known as a risk-taker in the early part of the innings and his international strike rate of 153.4 is a testament to that. If he is on song, he can do a lot of damage to the Bangladeshi bowling line-up. Calum MacLeod The 32-year-old all-rounder is in a rich vein of form over the last couple of months and has contributed heavily to Scotland. His team might have had to take a tough route into the WC, but he has been on song with both bat and ball. Bangladesh Shakib al Hasan Freshly back from the final of the Indian Premier League, Shakib al Hasan does not need an introduction. Despite staying away from any form of cricket for a year, Shakib has been undroppable in Bangladesh and the KKR set-up. Bangladesh would really hope that they can use him right and extract as much as they can from him in this WC. Mustafizur Rahman Sports analyst Jarrod Kimber calls Mustafizur the ‘unicorn of cricket’. And he is. He possesses the rare talent of bowling off-spin deliveries at 135 kilometres per hour. He has taken 14 wickets in this edition of the Indian Premier League and while it was being played in India, Fizz seemed to be a mystery to the opposition batters. The pitches in the UAE and Oman should aid his skillset and Bangladesh would hope that their strike bowler can storm themselves into the main draw of the tournament. Bangladesh Probable XI Mohammad Naim, Liton Das, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman Scotland Probable XI George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer, Richie Berrington, Calum Macleod, Matt Cross (wk), Michael Leask, Mark Watt, Josh Davey, Chris Greaves, Brad Wheal, Safyaan Sharif CE Fantasy XI Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Liton Das, Shakib al Hasan (vc), George Munsey, Calum Macleod (c), Mahmudullah, Richie Berrington, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mark Watt, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
 "Shubro Mukherjee")
