Dutch test for under-the-pump Tigers

Despite being in a perpetual defeat circle, Bangladesh want to make their first T20 International appearance in the land down-under a memorable one when they take on the Netherlands for their opening game of the T20 World Cup at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

A victory is also imperative for them to snap the jinx of defeat in the main round of the tournament for which an opponent like the Netherlands gives them a genuine hope.

Since their only victory against West Indies in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, Bangladesh have never found any major success in the tournament. In the last World Cup in 2021 also, they lost all of the five matches after overcoming the first round somehow.

This time, they didn't have to play in the first round as their rankings at the cut-off date took them to the Super 12s of the World Cup straightway, but their performance since the 2021 T20 World Cup remains disappointing. During this period, they played 27 matches and lost 20, a number that left the fans fuming.

Bangladesh also lost most of the senior players from the T20 International cricket in this period. Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur retired from this format after the question raised against their performance, Mahmudullah Riyad was dropped, leaving Shakib Al Hasan to remain as the only senior player. He also is leading a side whose most of the players continue to misfire.

Bangladesh indeed came into this World Cup on the back of four straight defeats, all of which came in the tri-nation series in New Zealand. They also lost their warm-up game to Afghanistan by 62 runs before the second and last practice game against South Africa was washed out.

The Netherlands got a touch of luck to move to the Super 12s. Namibia was a strong contender to move to the next round when they upset Sri Lanka in their first game. But while Sri Lanka then won the two matches with ease, Netherlands were still unsure about their chances despite beating Namibia because of their run rate. If Namibia could beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE), they would have been through but simply they couldn't do that.

Even though the fans believe Netherlands are an easy opponent for Bangladesh, the Tigers' dismal performance of late can't speak a volume of their success.

However, Bangladesh captain Shakib refused to take the Netherlands lightly.

"They (Dutch) have qualified, and so they have the ability to do well. You may have created the impression that Bangladesh is relieved to have the Netherlands [as the first opponent]. We never think like that. No team in the world thinks like this. All teams try to do what they can for the welfare of the team," Shakib said.

"There are five matches in the World Cup. We have come here with the preparation of these five matches. The preparation will be the same whoever we play here and it should be so."

"We come into this tournament looking to compete. We snuck through with a bit of luck on that final day. But now that we are here in the Super 12s, we are looking to compete. Hopefully, we can start off well against Bangladesh tomorrow," Netherlands batter Tom Cooper, when asked about his side's expectation in the Super 12s stage.

Netherlands are likely to go with the same line-up that took on Sri Lanka in their last group game from the first round.

Bangladesh so far played three matches against Netherlands - winning two and losing one.

The match will start at 10am as per Bangladesh Standard Time.