Bangladesh Cricket Team has improved a lot in One-day international cricket during recent times. In 2015 World Cup played in New Zealand and Australia, the Tigers reached their first quarterfinals on the World Stage.
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In the 2017 Champions Trophy held in England, Bangladesh reached the semi-finals. They stunned New Zealand in the tournament. In the semi-finals, they were outplayed by Men in Blue. Among the Asian block, Bangladesh has reached the finals of Asia Cup in 2012, 2016. In the 2018 Asia Cup held in UAE, Bangladesh played brilliant cricket losing a close final to India by 3 wickets.
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Bangladesh can surprise any opposition on their day. With experienced players in their squad, they are forced to reckon with in World Cup 2019. They play their opening match of WC 2019 against South Africa on 2nd June.
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Here we look at the 5 key Bangladesh players to watch out for in CWC19:-
1. Tamim Iqbal
Tamim Iqbal is an explosive left-handed opening batsman for Bangladesh. He made his One-day international debut for the Tigers on 9th February 2007 against Zimbabwe. His experience of playing 3 World Cups will help Bangladesh in this year’s prestigious tournament.
Tamim has played 190 ODIs (188 innings) and scored 6540 runs with an average of 36.33. In his ODI career, the left-handed batsman hit 11 centuries and 45 half-centuries.
In the Champions Trophy 2017 played in England, Tamim Iqbal scored 293 runs from 4 matches ( 4 innings) and helped Bangladesh reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
With the 2019 World Cup to be played on good batting pitches, Tamim Iqbal will play an important role in providing Bangladesh great starts and lay a solid foundation to post big totals.
2. Mushfiqur Rahim
Mushfiqur Rahim is a right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman. He made his One-day international debut for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe in 2006.
In the 2015 World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, he was the leading runs scorer for Bangladesh with 298 runs from 6 matches (6 innings) with the best score of 89. He was one of the key reasons why the Tigers reached the quarterfinals for the first time in World Cup history.
Coming in the middle order, Rahim provides solidity and can change the course of the game with his skilful batting. In the 2018 Asia Cup played in UAE, Rahim was the 3rd leading runs scorer with 302 runs in 5 matches ( 5 innings) with an average of 60.40. He was one key reason; Bangladesh reached the finals of Asia Cup 2018.
In the 2017 Champions Trophy held in England, Rahim scored 163 runs from 4 matches (4 innings) with an average of 40.75 and the best score of 79. Along with Tamim Iqbal, the experienced Rahim played a key role in helping Bangladesh reach the semi-finals of Champions Trophy 2017.
3. Shakib Al Hasan
At present Shakib Al Hasan is one of the best all-rounders in One-day international cricket. He made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe on 6th August 2006.
With the bat, Shakib has scored 5638 runs from 196 matches (184 innings) with the best score of 134*. Shakib did not play many ODI matches after an injury to his wrist last year. He will play a key role in the upcoming World Cup 2019.
He has been the best bowler in One day international for Bangladesh for a long time. In the 196 matches (193 innings), Shakib has picked 248 wickets with an economy of 4.43 runs per over and best figures of 5/47.
In the 2015 World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, the experienced Shakib scored 196 runs from 6 matches (6 innings) with the best score of 63. In that tournament, he scored 2 half-centuries. He did a decent job for Bangladesh with the ball in 2015 World Cup, taking 8 wickets from 6 matches ( 6 innings) with an economy of 5.16 runs per over.
During the successful Champions Trophy 2017 in England, Shakib Al Hasan scored 168 runs from 4 matches (4 innings) with the best score of 114. With the ball, he could not pick wickets.
If Bangladesh is to do well in the tournament, the experienced Shakib would need to perform well with both bat and ball.
4. Mashrafe Mortaza
Mashrafe Mortaza will be leading Bangladesh in the 2019 World Cup. He has been performing brilliantly as a leader helping the Tigers reach the quarterfinals of 2015CWC, Asia Cup 2016 and Asia Cup 2018. He led Bangladesh to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy in 2017.
He made his One-day international debut for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe on 23rd November 2001. In 206 matches (206 innings) he has taken 262 wickets with an economy of 4.80.
Mortaza would be playing his last World Cup and he would be looking to deliver the best for his nation.
5. Mustafizur Rahman
Mustafizur Rahman is a young left-arm pace bowler. He made his ODI debut for Bangladesh against India in 2015. With his ability to bowl yorkers, he was highly impressive right from the beginning.
In the 44 matches (43 innings) he has played, Rahman has taken so far 79 wickets with an economy of 4.81 runs per over and best figures of 6/43. The left arm pacer has picked 4 wicket haul in an innings twice and 5 wickets, three times.
In the 2017 Champions Trophy, Rahman took only 1 wicket from 4 matches (4 innings) with an economy of 6.31 runs per over. His recent dip in form has been an area of concern. Rahman has proven to be an asset for Bangladesh, so for Bangladesh to succeed Rahman needs to put up his A-game.