Bangladesh captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz won the toss and chose to bowl first against Pakistan in the first One Day International (ODI) of the three-match series at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur, Dhaka on Wednesday.
Pakistan are going in with four debutants. They are Sahibzada Farhan, Shamyl Hussain, Abdul Samad and Maaz Sadaqat. It is the first time since 2008 that four ODI debuts will be handed out in a game by Pakistan
This is a crucial series for the Bangladesh team for securing direct qualification for the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Earlier in a press conference on Tuesday, skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz urged his teammates to take greater responsibility.
“Since the ODI World Cup is ahead, we have already started our preparation. We are definitely planning in that way,” Miraz said here on Tuesday.
“We have been very good in the ODI format before and achieved good results. We had a good pattern in this format, largely because many senior players played together for a long time and understood the pattern well,” he said.
“But now some of them are not playing. So those of us who are here have to take responsibility. In ODIs you have to adapt to every situation and know how to handle them,” the captain added.
Miraz also urged players to clearly understand their roles and perform accordingly to help the team win the series.
Teams
Bangladesh: Saif Hassan, Tanzid Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das (wk), Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (c), Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Mustafizur Rahman
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Maaz Sadaqat, Shamyl Hussain, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Agha, Hussain Talat, Abdul Samad, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi (c), Mohammad Wasim, Abrar Ahmed