Dhaka – Touring Bangladesh, who have already reached the final of the Tri-Nation Series with unbeaten record along with West Indies, will play hosts Ireland in a dead rubber in Dublin on Wednesday, having some opportunities to experiment in their line-up.
The last league match between the two teams will kick off at 3:45 pm Bangladesh time.
Bangladesh top the points table of the series to qualify for the final as an unbeaten team with one match to spare securing 10 points beating West Indies twice by eight wickets and five wickets respectively. Their remaining encounter with hosts Ireland was washed without a single ball being bowled due to heavy rain.
The Caribbean team bagged nine points from all the four group matches.
Shakib Al Hasan has the good chance to become the fastest cricketer to complete the double of 250 wickets and 5,000-plus runs in ODI cricket if he takes one wicket against Ireland on Wednesday (May 15).
Shakib who has played 197 ODIs so far will do it faster than Sanath Jayasuriya (304 matches), Shahid Afridi (273 matches), Jacques Kallis (296 matches) and Abdul Razzaq (234 matches) among those who have achieved this.
Ahead of the final against West Indies on Friday (May 17) and as well as for the ICC World Cup 2019 in England, the Tigers have good opportunity to experiment with their line-up in Wednesday’s insignificant match, although the team have no injury problems.
Bangladesh are likely to field 3-4 players against Ireland who did not play in the ongoing tri-series.
Against Ireland, they could look to give any of Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain or Yasir Ali a go, but they will also be mindful of the fact that Sabbir Rahman did not have a proper bat despite playing both the matches.
The bowlers, who did well in both games against West Indies, could get a rest ahead of a busy schedule. The team management might have to assess the match fitness and form of Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain, and maybe have a look at Nayeem Hasan and Farhad Reza.
Pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who was found very expensive in the first match against West Indies, finally returned to his best, getting his cutter to break and grip the pitch as he took a four-for against West Indies. There could not have been a better time for the seamer to find form, with the World Cup now just two weeks away.
