Bangladesh and West Indies will be hoping to reignite their respective 2019 ICC World Cup campaigns when the two sides lock horns at Taunton on Monday.
Both teams started the World Cup with a bang with Windies blowing away Pakistan in their opener while Bangladesh stunned a formidable South Africa side.
However, since then, the two teams have gone off the boil and find themselves with just three points apiece after playing four matches each.
With time running out for both sides to get their semi-final hopes back on track, the stakes at Taunton on Monday couldn’t be higher.
WINDIES LOSING THEIR SHEEN
West Indies were being looked at as dark horses for the World Cup and that view was only reinforced with their thumping seven-wicket win over Pakistan. However, some sloppy cricket has since seen the Caribbean side face defeats against Australia and England with their batsmen being found wanting.
Jason Holder’s men should have beaten the Aussies but some poor shot-making from their batsmen saw that chance squandered. That same lack of application from their batsmen was seen in their comprehensive defeat against England with the likes of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell being guilty of soft dismissals.
Russell has failed to bring his monstrous IPL form with the bat so far and his recurring knee-injuries has seen his bowling output decrease over the course of the World Cup. Gayle, meanwhile, has faded away after an excellent start against Pakistan with the veteran opener yet to play a big innings.
The Caribbean side will need their big-hitters to fire for once if they are to make a late charge for the semi-finals.
Gayle is yet to lift off.
TIGERS TAKE COMFORT FROM RECENT RECORD AGAINST WINDIES
Bangladesh’s tournament started promisingly with a victory over the Proteas and they did run New Zealand close before falling to a narrow defeat. While they did get outplayed by hosts England, the Tigers will still believe that they can progress in the World Cup if things go their way in the remaining clashes.
Mashrafe Mortaza’s men will desperately want a win against Windies and they will be buoyed by their recent ODI record against the Caribbean side. Bangladesh have won seven out of the last nine ODI meetings between the two sides with three of those victories coming in their recent tri-series triumph in Ireland.
The side has an experienced core in the form of Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah. Shakib, in particular, has been in scorching form with the No1 ranked all-rounder has already scored 260 runs in three innings in the World Cup so far while also chipping in with three wickets with the ball.
Shakib has been Bangladesh’s main main.
LIKELY XIs
West Indies: Shai Hope (wk), Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (c), Ashley Nurse, Oshane Thomas, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Musatifizur Rahman.
