English lions are now in the land of Royal Bengal Tigers. When Tigers encounter Lions it usually turns into an epic fight for supremacy.

Bengal tigers are now a formidable force in world cricket in ODI (one day international) version. They demonstrated prolific form almost throughout the entire period of 2015 after their emphatic win against England at Adelaide in ICC world cup 2015. England got knocked out of the preliminary stage from the group of death. Bangladesh went on to appear in the quarter-final for the first time in World Cup.

Following that historic win, tigers whitewashed Pakistan, won series against strong India and South Africa by an identical 2-1 margin. A budding extraordinary genius, Mustafizur Rahman, from nowhere rocked world cricket.

England, on the other hand, regrouped with some fresh blood in 2016 and had a remarkable ride back to prominence so far throughout the past several months. The ODI and test series from this weekend are expected to produce wonderfully entertaining contests of two evenly matched teams.

In head to head contest between the two teams over the last few encounters, Bangladesh leads by 3-1. But after 2015 Adelaide win Bangladesh played only 15 ODIs while England played 30. This lack of international match may matter when, even in player to player comparison,  conditions and wicket might favor the home team, at least in the ODI series.

England in the recent past won series against two sub-continental teams, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, quite comfortably while Bangladesh struggled to overturn the challenges of minnows Afghanistan. The visitors looked like turning the tables on favorites Bangladesh till they rediscovered their form and outgun visitors in the series decider with an emphatic win. But overall Bangladesh team looked rusty and a bit unsettled. This may create a few issues for them against very professional English team.

In the meantime, the squads have been announced. ODI squads which look evenly balanced at the first look.

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Al-Amin Hossain, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mosharraf Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed

England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Steven Finn, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Some big names like Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, and Chris Broad are missing from the squad for different reasons but some talented new players like Ben Duckett, Jake Ball, Liam Dawson will create new balance along with new captain Buttler, and Roy, Stokes, Woakes, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.

As far as the home team is concerned batsmen looked rusty and clueless over the first two ODIs against Afghanistan. Even in the third match only Tamim, Sabbir and Mahmudullah looked in touch.

English bowling will be far more aggressive and professional. Steven Finn, Liam Plunkett, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes may ask questions of Bangladesh top orders. Even in Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid England has two quality spinners. Bangladesh needs to bat with passion and patience. There will be plenty of short stuffs aiming at rib cage to exploit weaknesses of Bangladesh batsmen. Tigers twitters must deal with this. Even on slow wicket English spinners may create equal challenges.

We could not make out why talented pacer Al-Amin did not play in any of the ODIs against Afghanistan. In the absence of Mustafiz, he could be the most potential wicket taker. Rubel just got back into the team after a long injury. Even if Taskin was successful in the first ODI with a late outburst he was well below his best. Mashrafe defying his physical constraints was in his elements. Shakib was brilliant with both bat (scoring useful runs) and taking crucial wickets. Other than Tamim and Mahmudullah other batsmen were neither consistent nor focused. Especially Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes looked pretty ordinary. Debutant Mosaddek impressed with his all-round ability.

Bangladesh tried too many experiments. There was no settled number 3 and not playing utility player Nasir was not smart at all. If Sabbir is to play at number three Nasir must be in the team at seven for strong finishes. Soumya needs batting coolly and with his usual flair. One good innings will hopefully settle his nerves. Mushfique will keep well when he bats well. Bangladesh has to score consistently 270+ for competing against very strong English batting line-up having great top and middle order and effective all-rounders like Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes.

There are too many talks about head coach dominating and calling all shots. We always advised against coach getting too much involved in the selection process and given blank authority over others for implementing his personal likes and dislikes.

Not playing Al-Amin and Nasir in the entire series against Afghanistan was a mistake. Not including leg-spinner Jubair Hossain in the squad was not right.

England is a very professional team. The first ODI is very important. If Bangladesh loses for any reason they may not get back in the series at all. The new theory of selection process would come under serious scrutiny. Bangladesh definitely did not play its best team against Afghanistan.

We feel that Mashrafe squad with Tamim, Shakib, Mushfique, Mahmudullah shouldering responsibility can guide and inspire youngsters like Taskin, Al-Amin, Soumya, Sabbir and Mosaddek to perform. Bangladesh can still prove equal to the task.

BDST: 1110 HRS, OCT 04, 2016
SR