Bangladesh’s match against the Netherlands at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart on Monday is an important match for the Tigers on multiple accounts.
Firstly, it’s their opening match of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2022, so naturally, Shakib Al Hasan’s men would be keen to get off to a winning start.
In Group 2, where Bangladesh is slated in the Super 12 phase, the Netherlands are the only associate team. So, a victory against them is necessary for Bangladesh if they want to preserve their already very slim chance of progressing to the knock-out stage.
But there is also another reason. On Monday, Bangladesh will have a golden opportunity to end a 15-year-long wait. A wait that began after their very first match in the ICC T20 World Cup way back in 2007.
The 15-year-long wait
Bangladesh played its inaugural match in the T20 World Cup on 13 September 2007, against the West Indies.
The Tigers started their journey in the competition with a six-wicket victory. After the match, began a 15-year-long wait for the Tigers as since then, Bangladesh have never won a match in the T20 World Cup.
Technically, Bangladesh have won six more games in the competition, but all of those victories came in the first round, which is the impromptu qualifying round for the main phase of the competition since the 2014 edition of the tournament.
Since the ICC T20 World Cup 2007, which was back then called the ICC World T20, Bangladesh have played 20 matches in the main phase of the tournament.
They have lost all of those games.
A rare opportunity
The match against the Netherlands will be, by far, Bangladesh’s best opportunity to end their losing streak in the main phase.
The Netherlands, who are eight places behind Bangladesh in the current ICC T20 rankings, somehow scraped through the first-round hurdle and qualified for the Super 12 as Group A runners-up.
The Dutch team is also not used to the bright lights of the Super 12, as they have made it this far in the competition after eight years.
Weather threat
Shakib Al Hasan is the only remaining player from the team in 2007 that defeated the West Indies in Johannesburg.
Shakib has been a firsthand witness to the 15-year wait and will have the chance to end this ignominious streak against the Netherlands.
On Monday, Bangladesh Time 9:30am, he is scheduled to go out for the toss alongside his Dutch counterpart Scott Edwards.
But Bangladesh’s hopes could very well get washed away.
The weather forecast in Hobart is quite ominous, as it predicts rain showers throughout the day with a heavy chance of a thunderstorm at night.
Will the rain keep away during the match, cause mild interruptions or completely wash out the game, no one can predict for certain. But weather predictions indicate that rain stoppages are likely to happen during the match.
The Bangladesh camp would hope that nature shows them mercy or otherwise, the 15-year-long wait will grow longer, at least by a few more days.