T20 series first step in journey towards 2024 WC

England were looking forward to a challenge but for newly-arrived Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, it will be the first step on a journey to the 2024 World Cup in the West Indies and USA.

Bangladesh will take on England in the first of the three-match T20I series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today after the three-match ODI series ended 2-1 in the visitors' favour. The series will move to Dhaka for the second and third T20Is.

While the Tigers have played five bilateral ODI series against the current world champions, the T20I series will be the first series between the two nations in the shortest format.

It will also be the first series both teams will feature in since the T20 World Cup last year in Australia. Overall, it will only be the second meeting between the sides in the T20I format.

Hathurusingha came to the press conference yesterday, although T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan was expected. With the practice session preceding the press conference being the first official T20I practice session for the Sri Lankan coach, he felt some of the personnel was still new to him.

"I have only seen the T20 team today [Wednesday]. It is just the start of a journey to the 2024 World Cup. A lot of water will go under the bridge between now and then. This is again an observation to see what we have, what areas the players can improve on, and play to our strengths," Hathurusingha said yesterday.

There are a few newcomers in the Bangladesh squad. Towhid Hridoy and Tanvir Islam impressed selectors with their BPL performances this season. Hridoy struck over 400 runs and finished as the third-highest run-getter in the tournament while Tanvir bagged 17 wickets.

Rony Talukdar too was rewarded for his BPL performances. He has been away from the national set-up for eight years, having played a sole T20I in 2015, that too batting at No. 7.

Shamim Hossain is another inclusion. He last played in November 2021, before being dropped.

Apart from getting a feel for the talent in the side, the series for Hathurusingha will be about shedding light on the gap between England and the Bangladesh side.

"I look forward to seeing them in match situations. I am impressed with what I have seen in the nets," Hathurusingha said of the new faces.

"I have seen Rony before. I remember he played one game against South Africa. I can't remember if he got injured or some other people started doing well. I am actually very interested to see what he can do. They have done well in domestic cricket so it is an opportunity for them to put their hands up. I think they will get a lot of opportunities to show what they can do. My message to them today was to do what they normally do on the international stage," he said of giving them a license to express themselves.

"We are in the entertainment business so we want runs. That's why people come to watch cricket. I know the public wants to see runs and for us to win games in the 20th over. We get a lot of TV viewers. Sponsors like that too," he added on whether big runs were expected in T20Is.

For England's Chris Woakes, the conditions in Bangladesh were a challenge he was excited to take on.

"Relatively slow surface, I'd imagine," Woakes said of the wicket. Hathurusingha, meanwhile, expected the wicket to behave similarly to the third ODI.

Bangladesh have found the T20 format the hardest to deal with. Asked how difficult it becomes to prepare with a World Cup every year, the Sri Lankan said: "I don't think it is difficult. We have toured the West Indies more than the other teams. So preparing for that in the mind, try to get the right combinations. There's opportunities for a lot of players."