A chance to gauge Texan conditions

Bangladesh will take on the USA today in the first ever Twenty20 International between the sides with the Tigers eyeing the game as an opportunity to take in the Texan conditions ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup. 

This will be the first T20I of a three-match series with the following two matches slated on May 23 and 25 respectively. All three matches will take place at the same venue – Prairie View Cricket Complex.

Although the Tigers will play their opening World Cup game against Sri Lanka on June 7 on a different venue – Grand Praire Stadium – both venues are in Texas, a place where Bangladesh have never played a match before.

This series will help the team gain first-hand experience of the conditions, which should help them prepare for the showdown against Sri Lanka.

Having earlier been greeted by a major storm on arrival which left the temporary infrastructure at the Prairie View in heaps, the Tigers enjoyed a much more pleasant weather in their first training session at the complex on Sunday.

The Tigers were somewhat rattled by the batting display in the recently-concluded Zimbabwe series at home, one they clinched 4-1.

When the top-order got runs, the middle or lower-order failed to reciprocate in kind. Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto had claimed that batting against the new ball was difficult in Chattogram. The batting display, however, did not improve a lot in Dhaka where they lost the fifth and final T20I by eight wickets.

The main concern would be whether the batters can shift gears to an approach more in line with T20 before the World Cup. The other big worry would be the form of Shanto, Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan, who could not make the expected impact with the bat against Zimbabwe.

Given that head coach Chandika Hathurusingha had talked about shuffling the batting order, the USA series presents an opportunity for those shuffles and gauge their merits in these conditions.

Tigers' pace attack has looked lively but with Taskin Ahmed in the sidelines, the focus will be on Mustafizur Rahman to see how effective his variations are in these conditions.

Mustafizur finds himself in good form going into the showpiece event in the USA and the West Indies and if the wicket lends some grip to his cutters, it would be something to look forward to in the World Cup opener against Sri Lanka.

The USA recently made 230 against Canada in a recent T20I at the venue, which is also the highest score at the ground. Spinners bagged majority of the wickets in that series, which means Bangladesh spinners Shakib, Mahedi Hasan and Rishad Hossain could have an opportunity to make their presence felt.

There are a few adjustments to be made for the Bangladesh players in terms of acclimatisation, with a few players feeling the effects of the time zone shift.

Bangladesh could also face a familiar foe today as former Kiwi all-rounder Corey Anderson, who seven years ago hit 10 sixes in a T20I against Bangladesh – the most against the Tigers in a T20I match—while playing for New Zealand, is likely to feature in USA colours.