Bangladesh opt to bat in third T20I against Windies

Bangladesh have won the toss and elected to bat first against West Indies in the third and final T20I at the Providence Stadium in Guyana today.

The game is scheduled to start at 2:00pm local time (12:00am Friday BST) -- an hour after the scheduled start of play. The toss was delayed due to wet outfield as it had been raining relentlessly since yesterday night in Guyana. However, the showers stopped a few hours ago. 

Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah Riyad informed during the toss that the Tigers have made one change to the squad from the one that played in Dominica in the second T20I. Pacer Taskin Ahmed, who leaked runs at a rate of 15.33 in the second T20I, makes way for specialist left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed. 

West Indies also made one change in their squad. They replaced Keemo Paul with Dominic Drakes.

The Providence Stadium in Guyana. Photo: Collected

With the first T20I washed out and Windies winning the second one comprehensively, Bangladesh would need to win today's game to level the three-match series, which is being considered as the first step in preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. 

Playing XI: 

Bangladesh XI: Anamul Haque, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah (c), Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan (wk), Mahedi Hasan, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed

West Indies XI: KR Mayers, BA King, SSJ Brooks, N Pooran (c) (wk), R Powell, D Drakes, OF Smith, R Shepherd, AJ Hosein, OC McCoy, HR Walsh