Bangladesh look to keep up white-ball dominance over Windies

OverviewWindies v Bangladesh
Warner Park, St Kitts and Nevis
1st T20I
Wednesday, 1 August, 00:00 GMT (+1d), 20:00 Local

Bangladesh's tour of the Caribbean has been a mixed bag so far, as they lost the two Tests heavily before producing better performances in the ODIs, winning 2-1.

They will be looking to continue that momentum as the evenly-matched sides bout wits in St Kitts & Nevis in the first game.

Tamim Iqbal was the Player of the Series, notching scores of 130*, 54 and 103 to steer Bangladesh towards a series victory, while the Windies' Shimron Hetmyer scored 207 runs and Chris Gayle never quite hit his destructive stride.

It's the bowling department that the Windies will need to strengthen, with no bowler taking more than two wickets in one match in the ODIs. With Andre Russell back from injury, things should be better. They have also left out Gayle and Rayad Emrit from their squad for the Twenty20 Internationals, adding Chadwick Walton and Sheldon Cottrell instead.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, need to recover from their recent poor form in T20Is, where they have won just two of their last 10 games. They have been boosted with the return of seam bowler Mustafizur Rahman.

Though not in the squad, ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza wasn't particularly confident when speaking ahead of the three-game series, saying: "With the T20I series coming up, it won't be easy to play against a side like Windies."

Windies, the reigning ICC World T20 champions, are ranked seventh in the MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings, while Bangladesh are 10th.

Key players

**Andre Russell (Windies):**He missed the last ODI against Bangladesh because of an injury, but is back, and in his favourite format. Russell ticks many boxes for the Windies with his batting, bowling and fielding, but it's with the bat that he is the game-swinger. Carlos Brathwaite will hope he comes good, and if he does, Bangladesh better beware.

Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh): Iqbal has long been the crown jewel of Bangladesh's batting. At his best, he can pick apart bowling attacks with venom, but he showcased his situational, adaptable style during the ODIs, when playing the anchor role. The Windies bowlers will have to do what they couldn't in the ODIs and find a way to send back Iqbal before he gets his eye in.

Conditions

Despite the intermittent rain during the tour so far, the forecast is good for this nighttime game in the Caribbean, with the temperature expected to be 28°C.

Squads

Windies: Carlos Brathwaite (c), Samuel Badree, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehedi Hasan, Nazmul Islam Apu, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque