‘Giant-killer’ Bangladesh, England to battle it out for a second win

After convincing victories in their respective opening games, England and Bangladesh were edged by Pakistan and New Zealand in close encounters. Today (June 8), both the teams will take on each other at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff at 3 pm (IST) as they look to regain momentum and bag a second win in the tournament.

England began their campaign with a 104 run win over South Africa but were given a reality check by Pakistan as they were defeated by the Men In green by 14 runs. For England, the opening pair is a concern as they haven’t fired yet and scored a cumulative opening partnership of only 13 runs in the last two matches.

Though they lost the match, both Jos Buttler and Joe Root hit centuries against Pakistan. And with two of the key batsmen in form, England has all the reasons to be confident in their face-off against the Asian side, and especially in tackling their spin attack.

Stokes produced a MOTM effort but was lacklustre with the bat as well as the ball against Pakistan. Eoin Morgan will back him and Jofra Archer, who also had an off-day in the previous game, is expected to come down heavily on Bangladesh.

For Bangladesh, they were pretty much in the game vs New Zealand and had it not been for Mushfiqur’s brain fade moment, who knows the Tigers would have had two wins in two games.

For all said and done, another senior player, Shakib Al Hasan, has been in a lethal form and has scored two half centuries in two games. Nabi and the Afghanistan spinners were excellent on the Sophia Gardens track against Sri Lanka and if the wicket remains same, Shakib and Mehidy may aim to take full advantage of the conditions in Cardiff.

Toss Prediction

Both teams would like to bat first at Sophia Gardens, considering their results in the previous matches and also the conditions in Cardiff.

Playing XIs:

England will not tinker with the XI even after their loss against Pakistan. Even Bangladesh is expected to stick to the same line-up as there has been no major weakness spotted yet in the team.

England XI: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Joss Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

Bangladesh XI: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohamad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mustafizur Rahim

Stats that matter

Bangladesh has happy memories at the Cardiff Wales Stadium as they defeated Australia in 2005 and New Zealand in the Champion’s Trophy 2017.

The Tigers have defeated England in the last two editions of the World Cup. In 2015 World Cup, the defeat had knocked the English team out of the tournament.