Pakistan will take on resurgent Bangladesh in the second match of World T20 main draw at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday.
The Mashrafe Mortaza-led Tigers, which remained unbeaten in the qualifying round of the tournament, is looking to repeat its Asia Cup semi-final performance against Pakistan. The Shahid Afridi-led Pakistani team, on the other hand, looks to overcome its recent dismal T20 performances and get back to winning ways.
Watch the live stream of the Super10 Group 2 T20 here, here, here, here, here and live scores here, here and here. The twenty over match starts at 3 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. GMT/4:30 a.m. ET/1:20 a.m. PT) on March 16.
Bangladesh advanced into the main round of the World T20 after beating Oman in its last qualifying match on Sunday night at Dharmashala. Batting first, Bangladesh posted 180 for two in 20 overs. Oman, which was given a revised 120 target in 12 overs after rain interrupted the match, restricted to 65 for nine as Shakib Al Hassan took four wickets. Opener Tamin Iqbal, who struck 2016 WT20's first century, made an unbeaten 103. He also became Bangladesh's first batsman to cross 1,000-run milestone in T20 Internationals.
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said his side would continue to play a "fearless" brand of cricket in the main draw of global T20 event. "We are looking forward to the next big four matches," Mortaza said. "Can't make any mistakes in the main draw. We played fearless cricket, that was a big decision but our coach has been giving us confidence. If you want to perform, you have to play fearless cricket."
Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi said his team wanted to begin their WT20 campaign with a win. He also praised the Indian team for its consistent performance. "All matches in the World T20 are important for us," he said. "Team India are playing very good cricket and if you look at the last match we played against India in Asia Cup they did really well specially Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh. But we also gave them a tough time."
The Probable Squads
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed, Imrul Kayes, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Muktar Ali, Shuvagata Hom
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Ahmad Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Sami, Khalid Latif
