Bangladesh will leave for the tour on July 11. The first T20I will be played in Belfast on July 18.
Bangladesh have a chance of breaking into the ICC Twenty20
team rankings during their upcoming tour of Ireland and Netherlands, where
they'll play five T20 internationals. Bangladesh, who have played only six
T20Is since August 2009 (the T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe was an unofficial
series), are not ranked as they need a minimum of eight games in the three-year
period. They lost five of their six matches and their only win came against
West Indies last year in Dhaka.
"We know our record in T20 cricket is not good. We are
still not good in the new format of the game," Bangladesh captain
Mushfiqur Rahim told the Daily Star. "Due to lack of international matches
we are not in the ICC T20 international rankings while even Afghanistan occupy
a spot."
Bangladesh are scheduled to play three matches against
Ireland in Belfast and a match each against Scotland and Netherlands in The
Hague.
"We have a chance to break into the table if we can win
matches on this tour. So it's a very good opportunity for us. The result was
not as per our expectation on the recent tour of Zimbabwe but we are confident
of winning the series against Ireland." Mushfiqur said. "Everybody
has the self-confidence, but you know just self-confidence is not enough to
win, rather you have to prove your skills. I believe everybody will be able to
show their skills on the coming tour."
Bangladesh face a tough challenge in foreign conditions in
which their record is poor. During their last tour to Ireland and Scotland in
July 2010, Bangladesh lost an ODI each against Ireland and Netherlands. They
also lost a match to Ireland during the World Twenty20 in England in 2009.
"Our experience against Ireland was not good at all, so
this tour will not be an easy one for us. We don't have a good record away and
you know we are going to play in different conditions. And you know in T20
cricket no one can be considered a big team. We may be favourites in the series
but I believe Ireland are tough opponents."
No comments:
Post a Comment