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The T20 World Cup is only two months away and thus the Cricket Boards are trying hard to give their players enough match practice. They are arranging bilateral series, especially the T20I series, to make sure that their teams are ready to compete in the multi-faceted event. In the same line of events, the Bangladesh Cricket Board and New Zealand cricket board have decided to play a T20I series in September.
As confirmed by the International Cricket Council, Bangladesh are all set to host New Zealand for a five-match T20I series in the first two weeks of September. The Bangla Tigers will play the Blackcaps for five T20Is from September 1 to 10. All the matches will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The full schedule for the fixtures have also been announced.
Bangladesh is currently hosting Australia for a five-match T20I series. The hosts have started things on a good note as they defeated the Kangaroos by 23 runs in the first T20I. In a low scoring match, the Bangladesh bowlers did exceptionally well to bundle the Australians for 108 runs while chasing 131. Nasum Ahmed won the Man of the Match award for his brilliant figures of 4-0-19-4.
Is India doing enough to prepare for this T20 World Cup?
While all teams are sweating hard to prepare themselves for the much-awaited T20 World Cup later this year, India played their last T20I series against Sri Lanka and that too with a ‘second string’ squad. They lost series 1-2 under unfavourable circumstances. Moreover, the A-team, around which the World Cup squad will be formed, is currently in England for a five-match Test series against the three lions.
They will end the England assignment on 14 September and will head directly to the UAE to participate in the second leg of the IPL. This will be their only chance to get themselves ready for the shortest format of the game. But one thing that is in India's favour is that the T20 World Cup will also be played in the UAE and playing in the IPL will help them get used to the conditions.