'WI pace not a big threat'

The national selectors announced a 14-member BCB XI team, with only one specialist spinner in Shohag Gazi, for today's T20 warm-up match against West Indies at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.

The match will start at 1pm.

The visitors got their tour off to a confident start with a 65-run victory over BCB XI in the 45-over-a-side match at the same venue on Friday. They will definitely try and should expect to keep the momentum going before the lone T20 International against the Tigers next Tuesday as they come up against a very ordinary BCB selection in the second warm-up game.

The two key performers in the first warm-up game, Mohammad Ashraful and Alok Kapali, were dropped from the side along with Nasir Hossain and Naeem Islam as all four have been drafted into the team for the lone T20 International while Mohammad Mithun replaced injured wicketkeeper Sahagir Hossain.

“We dropped them as the team have already boarded into the hotel and they wanted to practice together before the match,” said chief selector Akram Khan.

After the first warm-up match, many got worried with the raw pace of the West Indian pace attack but Akram was not too concerned with this, expressing full faith on his batsmen.

“True, we are little weak against pace bowling. We particularly have problems with the short-pitched deliveries but I don't think it will be a major factor in the coming series,” said a confident Akram.

There had been a lot of question about the lack of preparation before the Zimbabwe tour but the former national skipper expressed his satisfaction with the preparation of the team this time.

“This time the players got the opportunity to play some practice matches. I think the preparation is good and now we have to prove it in the middle. I'm very much optimistic about the series because we always play good cricket in our own conditions,” said Akram.

BCB XI's skipper Shahriar Nafees also echoed the sentiments of the chief selector as he believed that the West Indies pace bowlers will not be a big threat in the series, saying that Bangladesh can win matches if they put up 230 to 240 runs on the board in the one-day matches.

“Their (West Indies) bowling is much better than their batting and I firmly believe that we can win every match if we can put 230 to 240 runs on the board. I'm sure they will not be able to chase down this score with their current batting strength,” observed Nafees.

“There has been talk of their raw pace but I don't think it will be a big threat for the Bangladesh team in the series and I also found no reason to be worried about promising spinner Devendra Bishoo. Traditionally we are good against spin while the West Indies fast bowlers can hardly make any impact in our home condition,” he added.

BCB XI: Shahriar Nafees (captain), Junaed Siddiqui, Rokibul Hassan, Shuvogata Hom, Robiul Islam, Alauddin Babu, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Shohag Gazi, Mominul Hoque, Mohammad Mithun (wicketkeeper), Jahurul Islam, Kamrul Islam, Farhad Reza and Nadif Chowdhury.

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