United News of Bangladesh

The eighth edition of the Twenty20 World Cup is all set to kick off on Sunday (October 16) with a match between Sri Lanka and Namibia. There is no shortage of interest regarding the tournament, and fans are keen to know all the possible platforms to watch the live matches. Let’s take a look at major TV, OTT, and app platforms where Bangladesh and global cricket lovers will watch the T20 World Cup 2022 live action. Who are the major broadcasters of the T20 World Cup 2022? The sixteen-nation tournament will be held from October 16 to November 13 in Australia. Eight teams have already sealed their place in the Super 12 and four more will join them from the first round. Read: Bangladesh add Soumya, Shoriful to T20 World Cup squad The Super 12 Phase will start on October 22 with a match between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney and will finish on November 6. The semifinals will be held on November 9 and 10 respectively, and the final will take place at the MCG in Melbourne on November 13. There will be some exciting matches to watch in the group phases before the knockout round. The matches between India and Pakistan on October 23 and Australia and England on October 28 are the most in-demand games from the Super 12 round. Avid cricket lovers don’t want to miss these fixtures, and they don’t have to as Star Network, Sky Sports, Fox Sports, ESPN, PTV, and Times Internet are among the major broadcasters of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia. The Star network will televise the tournament in most parts of the subcontinent, which includes India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Maldives. PTV and ARY Digital Network will telecast live in Pakistan, while GTV and Rabbithole will telecast and live stream matches in Bangladesh. Sky Sports will broadcast live and streamed games in the UK. Live broadcasts of Fox Sports, Channel Nine, and Kayo will be available in Australia. North American viewers can see the Twenty20 World Cup 2022 live on Willow TV and ESPN+. The rest of the world can watch the live matches of this ICC big event through YuppTV. Read: T20 World Cup 2022: What's the best possible line-up for Bangladesh?

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made two changes to the Bangladesh squad for the ICC T20 World Cup starting on Sunday in Australia. The board axed batter Sabbir Rahman and allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin to pave the way for left-handed batter Soumya Sarkar and left-arm bowler Shoriful Islam. The newly-added players were on the standby list for the World Cup. October 14 was the final cut-off date to finalize the squad for all the teams. BCB made the change at the last moment. Sabbir and Saifuddin will now return home from New Zealand where the Bangladesh team played a tri-nation series with the hosts and Pakistan. After making a surprising comeback with the last Asia Cup, Sabbir played four T20Is and failed to prove his mettle in international cricket. In the last four innings, his best was 14. Saifuddin, in his last five T20Is, bagged only three wickets. In the match against Pakistan in the recently-concluded Tri-Series, he conceded more than 50 runs and failed to grab any wickets. This performance prompted the team management to not include him in the World Cup squad. Meanwhile, The Bangladesh T20 World Cup side will head to Brisbane on Saturday where they will play two warm-up games against Afghanistan and South Africa on October 17 and 19 respectively before starting their campaign in Hobart on 24 October. This year, Bangladesh are playing the Super 12s round of the World Cup directly. Bangladesh squad for T20 World Cup: Shakib Al Hasan (Captain), Najmul Hossain Shanto, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Nurul Hasan Sohan (WK/Vice Captain), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain

From the beginning itself, they were the clear favourites to win the Tri-Series. And now, they have emerged as the champions -- beating the hosts in a tricky chase. Pakistan lifted the Tri-Series trophy, winning against New Zealand by five wickets with three balls win in hand on Friday in Christchurch. Pakistan lost only once in this series to New Zealand, but in the final, they kept their nerve strong till the end.  Read: Tri-Series: Bangladesh lose to Pakistan by 7 wickets Pakistan needed to score 164 to win the series. They scored 29 in the opening partnership — a relatively slow start from them. But they were firm against the New Zealand bowling attack.  Babar Azam fell as the first wicket scoring 15 off 14 balls, while Mohammad Rizwan posted 34. Both of them had hit a fifty each while chasing 173 against Bangladesh before the final.  Haider Ali’s 15-ball 31 helped accelerate the scoring when they needed it the most. In the fourth wicket stand, Nawaz and Haider added 56 runs off just 26 balls — this partnership effectively pushed the match Pakistan’s way.  On the sixth wicket, Nawaz and Iftikhar Ahmed added 36 off 20 balls and that finished the match. Iftikhar scored 25 off 14 balls with a winning shot, a six, off Blair Tickner in the third ball of the last over. None of the Pakistani batters scored a fifty or a 40, but they demonstrated a team effort while chasing a big total.  For New Zealand, Michael Bracewell, who was outstanding throughout the event, bagged two wickets in the final, but his effort was not enough for the Blackcaps to avoid a defeat.  Earlier, Pakistan bowled first in this match after winning the toss. New Zealand scored 163 runs for seven wickets with the captain, Kane Williamson, leading the way, hitting 59 off 38 balls. Read: Tri-Series: As Bangladesh suffer another defeat, New Zealand march to final  New Zealand lost Finn Allen, the opener, in the last ball of the first over. Before falling prey to Naseem Shah, he hit three fours and scored 12 off just six balls. Devon Conway, the other opener, also couldn't go big in the final.  For Pakistan, Naseem and Haris Rauf bagged two wickets each. This win will surely boost the confidence of the Asian giant ahead of their T20 World Cup campaign starting this month in Australia.

Bangladesh competed in two international Twenty20 series as preparation for the World Cup. Given the players' overall performances, the team tigers' preparation didn't go as planned. The team must concentrate on their areas of strength in order to line up the best Bangladesh playing XI for the T20 World Cup 2022. The best Bangladesh playing XI for the 2022 World Twenty20 Cup Places for a few of the players in Bangladesh's team are practically guaranteed. They are the automatic choices for the tigers’ playing XI. But there are a few slots that are up for grabs. The Australian surfaces will be beneficial for the faster bowlers. Therefore, picking the right pace bowling unit will be a tough decision to make for captain Shakib Al Hasan and the team management. Besides, how many spinners it would be ideal to have in the team is another area of concern they need to solve. But the most important one is to pick the opening pair who will be responsible for giving Bangladesh a solid start.  Let’s get an idea of what should be the preferred playing XI for Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2022. Read:T20 World Cup 2022: How prepared is Bangladesh? Top-Order There are at least five options based on the players who have opened the innings for Bangladesh in the last two international series. In the main squad, Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Sabbir Rahman are in. On the other hand, Soumya Sarkar is among the standby players. Based on the last two T20I series performances, Litton Das is the front-runner to be one of the openers for Bangladesh. He has by far the best record of any of the others. Litton has 180 runs in 6 innings with a strike rate of 140.62. His place on the team as an opener is all but assured. Now the big talking point is who has the best chance to be Litton’s opening partner. For four matches, the team's management experimented with off-spinner all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz. But sending Miraz to the top of the order didn’t work out as expected. Mehidy made 73 runs in 4 innings with a strike rate of 108.95. Miraz was never a conventional opener, so picking him for the role was a mistake. Among the other three batters, Sabbir Rahman has the lowest strike rate at 86.66 and has only 26 runs in 3 innings. Soumya Sarkar has a 128.57 strike rate and Najmul Hossain Sahnto has exactly 100. Considering Soumya’s ability to play strokes on the fast and bouncy surface, he could be an ideal player to open the innings with Litton Das during the Twenty20 World Cup 2022. Because both Najmul Hossain and Sabbir Rahman have shown a lack of confidence in the middle. The team management first has to incorporate Soumya Sarkar into the main world cup squad from the standby players to be eligible for the opening slot. Besides, captain Shakib Al Hasan is likely to bat at No. 3 in the World Cup fixtures. Read:T20 World Cup 2022: Five potential candidates for most sixes Middle-Order Bangladesh’s middle-order is quite settled despite the majority of them having struggled to show their true potential. Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan, and Mohammad Saifuddin are likely to take the no.4 to no.8 slots. Afif Hossain has the best record in recent matches in comparison to others. The left-handed, aggressive-minded batter has made 159 runs with a strike rate of 124.21. Nurul Hasan and Yasir Ali have shown some promise in the lower middle-order. Both the hard-hitters have 130 plus strike rates. However, they need to take their strike rate to 150 given that both the batters come at the crease at the no.6 and no.7 positions. Mosaddek Hossain and Mohammad Saifuddin have the ability to play big shots and are currently favourites to take a spot in the playing XI in the initial matches. If one of these five players fails to impress the Bangladesh team think tanks, Sabbir Rahman can find a place in the middle-order. Lower-Order Bangladesh are likely to include three pacers in the playing XI given that Australian surfaces will assist the quicker bowlers. If Saifuddin finds a place in the team, two more fast bowlers are likely to be picked for the playing XI. Taskin Ahmed has been the most economical bowler from the pace bowling unit. The right-hand pacer has picked up 3 wickets in his previous 4 matches with an economy rate of 7.06. His position in the team is almost confirmed. Mustafizur Rahman has been struggling with his accuracy and has been pretty expensive. The left-hand pacer may not be seen in the initial matches against the tigers. Two promising young pacers, Hasan Mahmud and Shoriful Islam, are likely to compete against each other for the final spot. Hasan Mahmud is already in the World Cup squad, but Shoriful Islam is on the standby list. The BCB has to incorporate Shoriful into the main squad first to be eligible to take part in the T20 World Cup 2022 matches. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Nasum Ahmed are the two spinning options for Captain Shakib. He has to pick one and Miraz is the early favourite to find a place in the playing XI. But for some matches, Nasum should be a better choice. Read:ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022: Meet the 16 Captains Bangladesh’s preferred playing XI for the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud Way Forward It could be challenging for players at first to adapt to unfamiliar Australian conditions. The team management must thus give top priority to creating an effective Bangladesh playing XI for the T20 World Cup 2022. The players should be prepared to give their best for the team Tigers in every game.

Bangladesh got close to beating Pakistan in their last match of the Tri-Series in New Zealand but failed to defend a total of 173 runs and lost the match by seven wickets. Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan scored a 50 each in this match, but their efforts went in vain as the bowlers were unable to defend the total. To chase a challenging total of 173 runs, Pakistani openers put up a partnership of 101 runs and made their remaining task easy. Mohammad Rizwan scored 69 while Babar Azam posted 55. Despite sensible batting from Pakistan top-order, Bangladesh managed to push the match to the end. In the last over, Pakistan needed 8 runs. Mohammad Saifuddin bowled the last over but failed to defend it. Hasan Mahmud was the best bowler for Bangladesh taking two wickets. Earlier, Liton and Shakib propelled Bangladesh to 173 for six. Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first. Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar opened the innings for Bangladesh. Soumya posted four off as many balls while Shanto failed one more time to justify his inclusion in the T20 team. He made 12 off 15 balls. After the openers continued on a dismal batting display, Liton Das was firm at the one end of the wicket coming to bat three. Shakib Al Hasan joined him in the third wicket stand. Despite having a hamstring injury, Liton was batting so well. He brought up his fifty off just 31 balls with five fours and one six. Before falling prey to Mohammad Nawaz for 69 off 42 balls, Liton partnered Shakib in the third wicket stand and they added 88 runs off 55 deliveries— the best partnership Bangladesh got in this Tri- Series. Read: Tri-Series: As Bangladesh suffer another defeat, New Zealand march to final After Liton’s dismissal, Shakib took charge on the Pakistani attack. He fell for 68 off 42 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Eventually, Bangladesh ended up on 173 for six— their highest in this event. Before Thursday’s match, Bangladesh lost three matches in a row. Bangladesh made two changes in this match replacing Mosaddek Hossain and Ebadot Hossain with Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud. Bangladesh will now travel to Australia to play the T20 World Cup.

Liton Das and Shakib Al Hasan hit a fifty each and propelled Bangladesh to a challenging total of 173 for six against Pakistan on Thursday. Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first. Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar opened the innings for Bangladesh.  Soumya scored four off as many balls while Shanto failed one more time to justify his inclusion in the T20 team. He made 12 off 15 balls. After the openers continued on a dismal batting display, Liton Das was firm at one end of the wicket coming to bat at three. Shakib Al Hasan joined him in the third wicket stand.  Despite having a hamstring injury, Liton was batting so well. He scored his fifty off just 31 balls with five fours and one six.  Before falling prey to Mohammad Nawaz for 69 off 42 balls, Liton partnered Shakib in the third wicket stand and they added 88 runs off 55 deliveries — the best partnership Bangladesh got in this Tri- Series. After Liton’s dismissal, Shakib took charge on the Pakistani attack. He fell for 68 off 42 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Eventually, Bangladesh ended up on 173 for six — their highest in this event. Before Thursday’s match, Bangladesh lost three matches in a row. Bangladesh made two changes in this match, replacing Mosaddek Hossain and Ebadot Hossain with Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud.     

One of the main reasons for playing international series heading to the T20 World Cup 2022 is to find the right balance in the playing XI. However, the Bangladesh players' tri-nation series performances have been underwhelming. The concern of whether the Bangladeshi team has lived up to expectations in its preparatory matches still remains. How have the players performed in the preparatory international fixtures? The Bangladesh T20I team competed in a two-match series against the host United Arab Emirates in September following a lackluster performance at the Asia Cup 2022. The Tigers defeated the weak UAE team comfortably, but most of the players' performances fell short of expectations. Read: Tri-Series: As Bangladesh suffer another defeat, New Zealand march to final Bangladesh’s real test was awaiting in the New Zealand tri-nation series, and the worry has been confirmed once the series got underway. The team appears to lack a game plan; the batters have made bad shot choices and have approached the game with little effort; and the bowling unit hasn't been efficient enough on New Zealand's fast track. Taskin Ahmed in bowling and Shakib Al Hasan in batting have shown good intentions among the players. Taskin’s accuracy, pace, and economy rates have all been satisfactory. He has picked up 2 wickets with an economy rate of 7.37 in 2 matches of the tri-nation series. Shakib, on the other hand, has been struggling to find his rhythm with the ball. He has yet to earn a wicket and has an economy rate of 9 in two outings. However, Shakib’s 70 off 44 balls against New Zealand on Wednesday was encouraging despite Bangladesh losing the contest handsomely by 48 runs. Among the others, none has had a particularly impressive performance in the series to date. Afif Hossain and Litton Das are considered special talents. Both had a couple of good starts but couldn’t prolong their innings. What’s more annoying is that after spending some time in the middle, they repeatedly make mistakes which cost their wickets. Yasir Ali played a hard-hitting knock in the death overs against Pakistan in the series opener, which impressed many. Bangladesh can consider him to be sent up in the batting order. In bowling, spinners Nasum Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz have maintained good economy rates, but they may not be go-to bowlers during the main event. The faster bowlers are expected to do well on fast bouncy wickets, but except for Taskin, all have failed to meet the expectations. Bangladesh’s team performance hasn’t been up to the mark in this tri-nation series. Bowlers' main concern has been about not giving away too many runs, avoiding focusing more on picking up wickets. There is no specific strategy for batting. The batters have tried to play big shots whenever the asking rates go up. Everyone needs a specific role in batting in order to have the desired outcome from a contest. It seems every batter in Bangladesh tries, but none of them succeed. Read: T20 World Cup 2022: Five potential candidates for most sixes

New Zealand marched to the final of the ongoing Tri-Series at home, beating Bangladesh by 49 runs today in Christchurch.Bangladesh failed to chase a massive total of 208 runs. It was Bangladesh’s third T20I defeat in a row. Before this match, they lost to Pakistan and New Zealand in their previous two matches.   New Zealand batted first today after losing the toss. Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips fired them to 208, smashing 64 and 60 respectively, on a ground that looked friendly to the batters.   Bangladeshi bowlers were never in a position to contain the runs. Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, conceded 40 runs but failed to bag any wickets. Shoriful Islam gave away 41 runs to take only one wicket.   While chasing, Bangladesh made a good start but the effort was not good enough to pose a challenge to the hosts. Najmul Hossain Shanto scored 11 playing 12 balls— he failed once again to prove his mettle in T20Is.   Both Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar made 23 each but they were unable to continue on the good start they managed. Liton fell prey to Michael Bracewell. The right-handed batter played to the leg side and got a lot of elevation but not enough to pass the boundary. He was taken at the deep midwicket region.   And Soumya was trapped by a short ball when he tried to play an uppercut. Trent Boult took a regulation catch at the third-man area to dismiss Soumya.   Shakib was the only Bangladeshi batter to offer some headache to the New Zealanders. He made 70 off 44 balls with eight fours and one six. It was his joined second-highest innings in T20Is. But his effort went in vain as the other batters failed to support the captain.   Despite Shakib’s heroics, New Zealand sealed the match quite comfortably, and thus they booked a place in Friday’s final.   It was yet another dismal show from Bangladesh in T20Is— their 10th defeat in the format this year out of 15 matches they have played.   Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and sent New Zealand to bat first.   Shoriful sent Allen back for 32 off just 19 balls, but Conway was firm in the middle. He made 64 off 40 balls with five fours and three sixes. Glenn surpassed Conway hitting 60 off just 24 balls with two fours and five sixes.   Mohammad Saifuddin and Ebadot Hossain, who were playing their first match in this event, took two wickets each but their efforts were not enough to strict New Zealand in a lower total.   Bangladesh made three changes in this match— adding Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Saifuddin and Ebadot Hossain replacing Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed.   Bangladesh will take on Pakistan in their last match of this Tri-Series— their last T20I before the T20 World Cup as well— on Thursday at 8 am (Bangladesh time).  

Bangladesh have won the toss and opted to bowl first in their third match in the ongoing Tri-Series against New Zealand. Bangladesh have included Soumya Sarkar in their playing XI. The left-handed batter last played a T20I back in November 2021 against Australia. To pave the way for his inclusion, Mehidy Hasan Miraz has been rested.  Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud are also replaced by Mohammad Saifuddin and Ebadot Hossain, respectively. For New Zealand, Martin Guptill, Trent Boult and Adam Milne have replaced Kane Williamson, Blair Tickner and Mitchell Santner, respectively. Bangladesh lost their first two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand.  Ahead of this match, Sridharan Sriram, the T20 consultant of Bangladesh, who has been playing the role of the beach coach, said the Tigers have all the weapons to fire at the right time. He has asked the fans and the media to keep patience.  Bangladesh playing XI: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Shakib al Hasan (C), Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Yasir Ali, Mohammad Saifuddin, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam New Zealand playing XI: Devon Conway, Finn Allen, Martin Guptill, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, James Neesham, Michael Bracewell, Ish Sodhi, Adam Milne, Tim Southee (C), Trent Boult

Players that can strike the ball hard have no competition for a spot on the team. A host of renowned power hitters in world cricket will take part in the T20 World Cup 2022. Let’s take a look at five potential candidates who can hit the highest number of sixes in the competition. Who are the front-runners to hit most sixes in the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup? Big hitters take most of the limelight in T20 format cricket, and the upcoming T20 World Cup will be no different. The main responsibility of the big hitters is to take on the opposition bowlers to increase the run rate. Here are five in-form big hitters who can finish the tournament with the most sixes. Read: T20 World Cup 2022: Six captains to keep an eye on Suryakumar Yadav (India) T20I Stats in 2022 (as on October 11): Inn: 23 | Runs: 801 | HS: 117 | SR: 184.56 | 6s: 51 Suryakumar Yadav has become a real revolution for India this year in the T20 format. He is now a vital member of the Indian T20 set up. The right-hand middle order batter is the only player to have smacked more than 50 T20I sixes in 2022 and is one of the front runners in the quest for most sixes in the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup. Rovman Powell (West Indies) T20I Stats in 2022 (as on October 11): Inn: 18 | Runs: 474 | HS: 107 | SR: 153.39 | 6s: 37 The West Indian vice-captain, Rovman Powell, knows what it takes to hit big sixes coming down the batting order. He is a clean hitter of the cricket ball and can hit long sixes. Powell will be one of the front runners to hit the highest number of sixes in the competition. Rohit Sharma (India) T20I Stats in 2022 (as on October 11): Inn: 23 | Runs: 540 | HS: 72 | SR: 142.48 | 6s: 28 Rohit Sharma has the most sixes in the T20I with 178. Rohit loves to hit the ball in the air and is one of the best power hitters in the world. Playing as the opener, Rohit will get plenty of chances to hit big shots in his innings and is one of the early favourites to hit the highest number of sixes. Read: Women's Asia Cup: Bangladesh eliminated after rain washes out UAE match David Miller (South Africa) T20I Stats in 2022 (as on October 11): Inn: 10 | Runs: 283 | HS: 106* | SR: 186.18 | 6s: 21 David Miller is famous for his big hitting ability all around the ground. He is known as "Killer Miller" for his destructive nature with the bat. Miller has 21 sixes in 10 innings in 2022 so far, which shows his aggressive nature as a batter. The South African side will rely on his services to lower down the batting order during the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup. Jos Buttler (England) T20I Stats in 2022 (as on October 11): Inn: 7 | Runs: 155 | HS: 68 | SR: 198.71 | 6s: 10 The newly appointed T20I captain of the English side, Jos Buttler, is one of the most destructive batters in the world. He has the ability to take the game away from the opposition. Buttler is a clean hitter of the cricket ball and will be one of the valuable players in the Twenty20 World Cup 2022. Buttler can also finish the tournament with the most sixes to his name. Bottom Line Power hitters are the most sought-after players for the T20 format. The T20 World Cup 2022 will feature a battle between well-known cricketers to determine who can whack the most sixes. However, most cricket fans just expect to see some spectacular knocks. Read: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022: Meet the 16 Captains