Bangladesh take on Pakistan in their first warm-up match of 2017 Champions Trophy at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Saturday.
The sixth-ranked One Day International side head into the tie on the back of their first-ever away win over higher-ranked New Zealand in the final match of the Tri-Nation ODI series in Ireland on Wednesday. On the other hand, Pakistan, the lowest ranked team in the quadrennial tournament, made a good start to 2017 season with a series win over West Indies last month.
High on confidence after the five-wicket win over New Zealand, Mashrafe Mortaza's men would want to send out an early signal with a win over Pakistan. The Tigers also have an in-form top-order as the senior members of the team - Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim - along with young Soumya Sarkar were amongst the runs in the tri-nation series.
While their batting looks sorted, Mortaza would want to use the couple of tune-up games to figure out the team combination, especially zero in on the pacers, who will make the playing XI in the English conditions. Mustafizur Rahman's return to form will serve as a big boost to the team. There will be competition between Rubel Hossain and Taskin Ahmed for the third pacer slot in the side.
Pakistan on the other hand, are yet to get their combination right as they sent star batsman Umar Akmal back home after he failed fitness tests. However, the Men in Green will be boosted by the good showing of experienced campaigners Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez in the Caribbean.
Skipper Sarfraz Ahmad will be hoping his pacers, led by young Mohammad Amir, to make an immediate impact and help his team fend away the Bangladeshi threat on Saturday.
Team News
Bangladesh
Squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mehedi Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Sunzamul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed
Pakistan
Squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (c & wk), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fahim Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Shadab Khan, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz
