Bangladesh will be looking to give a tough fight when they take on South Africa in their Group D second game of the ICC T20 World Cup at the scenic Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York today.
The match will begin at 8:30pm Bangladesh Standard Time, and Nagorik TV will televise the game live.
Bangladesh began their campaign on a winning note with a two-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a thrilling encounter in Dallas on Friday.
With the top-order still a concern, the two points against Sri Lanka provided a significant lift ahead of their tie against South Africa. And a win against the Proteas will bolster their hopes of qualifying for the Super Eight of the competition.
Bangladesh have never beaten South Africa in the shortest format of the game despite playing eight matches, but the slow wicket of New York, which looked pretty similar to Mirpur, will give them confidence.
South Africa won their matches against Sri Lanka and the Netherlands but struggled a lot on the slow Nassau County International Cricket Stadium surface.
The pitch in New York has already received a lot of criticism, pushing the ICC to improve its standards. However, if the pitch remains slow, it will undoubtedly benefit Bangladesh.
鈥楾he match between India and Pakistan will be held in New York before our match against South Africa. So we鈥檒l have an idea of the pitch,鈥� Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said after their match against Sri Lanka on Friday.
鈥楤ut whatever it is, I believe if we can play to our strength, we can beat any team in the world.鈥�
Shanto鈥檚 confidence was actually based on the performance of the bowlers, who regularly put up an excellent display despite the fact that their efforts were often hampered by the team鈥檚 fragile batting.
鈥極ur bowlers have been in top form for sometimes now. They can give any batting line-up in the world a nightmare. I hope they will continue to what they have been doing over the years,鈥� he said.
鈥楢s far as batting is concerned, I am not worried that much. You can鈥檛 expect all the batters to shine consistently. But it is true there is room to improve. We have been working hard to fix our batting problems.鈥�
Thanks to bowlers performance, Bangladesh restricted Sri Lanka to just 124-9 in the first game, but they had to toil hard to overhaul the target.
Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain picked up his career-best 3-22 while Mustafizur Rahman claimed 3-17. Taskin Ahmed, who recovered from his rib injury, got 2-25, while pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib took 1-24.
Towhid Hridoy, the most inform batter of the side, played an impactful 20-ball-40, which was eventually key to their win.
Liton Das played 38 ball-36 runs, which was not striking, but considering the match scenario, his slow knock was equally important.
Later, Mahmdullah鈥檚 (unbeaten 16 off 13 balls) experience won the game for Bangladesh.