High-flying England face Bangladesh challenge

UPDATE: Saifuddin ruled out, Hossain replaces him

Mohammad Saifuddin has been ruled out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 due to back pain. Rubel Hossain has come in as his replacement.

For Bangladesh — who have an abysmal World Cup record with just one of their seven wins since 2007 coming against a Test playing nation (West Indies) — the key would be to exploit the conditions in their first ever T20I World Cup clash against England.

England’s build-up to the tournament has centred around the unavailability of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Sam Curran, but they hardly missed their star trio with Moeen Ali providing the winning edge.

Teams have been successful in chasing so far in the World Cup at this venue, with three out of four games being won by the team batting second.

To their advantage, the Abu Dhabi strip is known to be aiding the pacers and Morgan may think of bringing in Mark Wood into the mix at the expense of a batter.

With the match starting in the afternoon, the reigning ODI world champions will be tested in the oppressive heat of Abu Dhabi where temperature soars above 32C.

Against an opposition who are familiar with the sluggish sub-continent conditions and capable of producing upsets, Morgan will ill-afford to rest on the laurels.

Their bowling unit was right on the job as the Eoin Morgan-led England bundled out an otherwise lacklustre West Indies for a paltry 55 in 14.2 overs before cantering home in 8.2 overs.

Buoyed by the emphatic win over defending champions West Indies, England would look to continue their winning momentum when they face Bangladesh in a tricky Super 12 clash.

Hello and welcome to the Live coverage of the ICC T20 World Cup match between England and Bangladesh at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.