So the day has finally arrived as Bangladesh will start their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign against South Africa in London today (Sunday). The match is scheduled to start at 3:30 pm. The wait is over at last, as Bangladesh cricket fans will see their players in action from today. The expectancy over team Bangladesh is huge this time as they went in the tourney with their best ever team on paper. A solid start against the mighty Proteas is just what Tigers will want.
On top of that South Africa had a shambolic start to their World Cup as they were thrashed by host England by 104 runs in the tournament opener. Bangladesh will certainly want to take advantage of that fact. Bangladesh possess some match-winners of their own and they are definitely not a team who you can take lightly anymore and the Proteas are certainly aware of that.
However, Tigers go into today’s match with problems of their own, as the team is surrounded by injury concerns of senior players like skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and dashing opener Tamim Iqbal, who are not fully fit. Tamim Iqbal walked off the nets at the Oval, clutching his left wrist after being hit in the area with a ball during the team’s practice session on Thursday.
Tamim’s participation in the team’s World Cup opener remains uncertain. No fracture was found in his injured wrist but there was swelling in the place, which may discourage the team management to risk with him in this sort of long tournament. Skipper Mashrafe was injured during the warm up match against India. Despite the injury concern it looked Mashrafe and Mustafizur Rahman would play. All rounder Mohammad Saifuddin is also suffering from minor injury.
Saifuddin, who has been troubled by a back problem, is expected to take painkillers in order to make himself available for the match. Mashrafe and Saifuddin skipped team’s recent training session as they were rested to be fully fit for the match. Tigers bowling coach Courtney Walsh said, Pacers will be under observation and there is also a slight possibility of Rubel Hossain starting in place of Saifuddin.
Meanwhile, The Proteas need to register points and they will look to soothe the wounds inflicted by England, with the balm of victory against Bangladesh. The Proteas batsmen will be looking to make amends for letting the side down against England. But this is the World Cup, and they know it will be difficult to win against a strong and star-studded Bangladesh side. South Africa famously lost to Bangladesh in Guyana at the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies and they will have that on their minds, even though the Proteas have had the better of their last three encounters against Bangladesh.
