The England cricket team has arrived in Dhaka on Friday morning to play a three-match One-Day International (ODI) and equal number of T20 series against hosts Bangladesh.
The visitors landed in two groups on 8:15 am at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. This would be their first bi-lateral series in Bangladesh since 2016. The tour, which was originally scheduled for September and October 2021 but postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, consists of three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) to be played in Dhaka and Chattogram.
England captain Jos Buttler, who stated in December 2022 that he was looking forward to leading the world champions in Bangladesh. He anticipates a challenging contest from the hosts. The Bangladesh team has already begun preparations for the series starting on March 1 in Dhaka. Tamim Iqbal will lead Bangladesh in the ODI series, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) having already announced the squad for the contest.
Chandika Hathurusingha will be coaching the Bangladesh team during the series. BCB reappointed Hathurusingha as the head coach for a two-year period following the departure of Russell Domingo. Hathurusingha will be in charge of all three formats of the game and expressed his happiness at returning to Bangladesh, hoping to continue his good work with the team.
The first two ODIs will be played at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on March 1 and 3, with the third ODI taking place at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on March 6. All the ODIs will begin at 2:30 PM local time.
England– the team Bangladesh defeated in the 2015 ICC World Cup to create the most iconic moment in the country’s cricket till now, the team the Tigers defeated in a dramatic manner in the 2011 World Cup, the team against whom Bangladesh have a Test victory at home and an ODI win in England– are yet to lose a bilateral series against the Tigers.
This stat, however, becomes a little less surprising when one notices that Bangladesh and England have played only four bilateral series.
The first one took place in England back in 2003, when Bangladesh could hardly put up a fight against one of cricket’s perennial giants.
The next bilateral series happened seven years later in Bangladesh, where the margin of defeat shrunk, but the result remained the same.
In 2010, Bangladesh finally secured their first ODI win over England with a five-run victory in Bristol. The Tigers, however, lost the ODI series 2-1.
After that, Bangladesh came out on top in two thrilling encounters in the 2011 and 2015 ODI World Cups before the English team arrived in Dhaka in 2016.
