Six months ago, everything in cricket was all about the T20 format. Now, it seems somewhat out of place with the World Test Championship playing out its final series over the past few months and the ODI World Cup 2023 just around the corner.
Regardless, Bangladesh and England will spend the next week playing out a three match T20 series in the subcontinent. Off the back of a tight 2-1 ODI series, chances are this series will simply be viewed as a continuation of each sides’ development towards the World Cup.
Bookmaker William Hill has all the odds ahead of the first T20 this Thursday.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: March 8th, 9:00 P.M. (GMT)
Looking at the outright betting odds, it’s the visiting side England who is the favourite to win the first T20 this week. With odds of 1.40 to 3.00, they hold a moderate favourite tag. This is courtesy of their recent win in the ODI series between these two—England claimed the first two matches before dropping the final game to Bangladesh. Add this to the fact that England is World No. 2 while Bangladesh is No. 9 in T20s and these odds from William Hill begin to make sense.
Overall, this series doesn’t count much in the scheme of things, so we can expect some free-flowing cricket. England should win 2-1, and so the question becomes: Which of these three matches is Bangladesh most likely to win? We say there’s a good chance they actually pick up an upset in the opening match this Thursday.
Just three days ago, Bangladesh scrapped their way to 246 all out batting first in the third ODI against England before rolling their opposition for 196. This came off the back of a star performance by all rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 75 off 71 balls and took 35/4 from 10 overs. The thing is, this first T20 is not only being played at the same venue as the third ODI, but it’s being played on the exact same pitch as well.
England’s batters struggled to get going on the slow pitch in Chattogram on Monday, and we say there’s a strong likelihood it will be déjà vu for the reigning World Cup champions again this Thursday. Expect Shakib Al Hasan to again take crucial wickets and be economical, and if he can fire with the bat too, Bangladesh could well get another one over their heavyweight visitors.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: March 8th, 9:00 P.M. (GMT)
