Bangladesh opt to bowl in overcast conditions

This one-day international series between Bangladesh and West Indies promises to be a fascinating duel and it is the hosts that come in as favourites. The tourists have brought an extremely young squad that have little experience in these conditions and that will surely favour Bangladesh.

Shakib Al Hasan becomes the first player to bowl 100 innings and also the first player to take 150 wickets in ODIs in Bangladesh.#BANvWI

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) January 20, 2021

The hosts have plenty of experience and quality in their ranks and they will be confident on home turf where they have a good record. Combined with the fact they have beaten the West Indies the last five times they have met and seven in their last eight, expect the home side to get off to a winning start.

Pacer Hasan Mahmud, who made his T20I debut last year, became the 134th Bangladesh ODI cricketer. For West Indies, six players – Akeal Hosein, Andre McCarthy, Chemar Holder, Joshua Da Silva, Kyle Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner – made their ODI debuts. The ODI also sees Shakib Al Hasan’s return after his ban for not reporting a corrupt approach elapsed.

West Indies on Wednesday handed a debut to as many as six players in the first ODI against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. #Cricket #BanvsWI #MirpurODI #WestIndiescrickethttps://t.co/DWDmfK2o34

— India Today Sports (@ITGDsports) January 20, 2021

At the toss, Iqbal said that the overcast conditions prompted him to bowl first. Mohammed didn’t mind batting first, saying the surface “looks like a good wicket”. He also said that the young players in the XI were looking forward to playing international cricket. As for his captaincy, Mohammed said he was “trying to stay as calm as possible”.

Bangladesh 1 Tamim Iqbal (capt), 2 Liton Das, 3 Nazmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Soumya Sarkar, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Hasan Mahmud, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Rubel Hossain

Bangladesh is making things tough for the visitors as @windiescricket are 56/4, @Sah75official already picked up 2 wickets on his return to International Cricket #BANvWI #Cricket #BangladeshvsWestIndies pic.twitter.com/nxiuF6lAaj

— Hamadullah Sohu (@cricsohu) January 20, 2021

West Indies XI 1 Sunil Ambris, 2 Joshua da Silva (wk), 3 Andre McCarthy, 4 Nkrumah Bonner, 5 Jason Mohammed (capt), 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Kyle Mayers, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Raymon Reifer, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Chemar Holder