For the white-ball games, the Irish will bank on the experience of Balbirnie and Campher, who played for Khulna Titans and Chattogram Challengers.
“It was really beneficial for me,” Balbirnie said of his stint with Khulna Titans.
“I was there to see first-hand a couple of their players, some of the grounds and conditions we’re going to come up against in the next week or two.”
Ireland have been recent giant-killers in T20 cricket. At last year’s T20 World Cup, they knocked out two-time champions West Indies and beat eventual champions England in a group match.
Bangladesh will be a tough proposition, however, having this week whitewashed England in a T20 series.
Despite facing a pace line-up that featured the likes of Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Sam Curran, the Tigers never strayed from their mindset.
Youngster Towhid Hridoy also impressed on debut, displaying confidence and shot-making ability. He looked solid before being dismissed for 24 off 17 deliveries with two fours and a six. Najmul Hossain Shanto, who was the leading run-getter in the BPL, continued his fine form as he struck four consecutive boundaries to English pacer Mark Wood on way to scoring a fifty.
According to Mohammad Salahuddin, coach of BPL champion Comilla Victorians, the improvement in pitches during the BPL helped batters express themselves freely against England.
“I think it’s a very big achievement to beat a team like England. The boys played fearless cricket and we were able to witness a wide range of strokes from them, which is a very good sign. The reason the boys were very confident about playing their shots was due to the pitches during the BPL being very good. Even if we had the ability to play strokes, our boys were not confident enough in the past [due to the nature of the pitch]. I think this time it helped them play freely. Since the range of shots increased, I think it will have a positive impact in the T20 format,” Salahuddin told the media yesterday.
Sylhet Strikers reached their first BPL final after they defeated Rangpur Riders by 19 runs in the second qualifier in Dhaka. They will take on three-time champions Comilla Victorians – also last season’s winners – in the final on February 16.
But it could have easily been Riders playing the final. Rony Talukdar and their captain Nurul Hasan added 82 runs for the fourth wicket, and were taking Riders rapidly towards the 183-run target, but Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s match-turning 18th over changed the game’s fate.
Strikers took extra time to decide who would keep wickets when Mushfiqur Rahim returned to the field, and Nurul appeared frazzled. The Riders captain fell first ball after the delay, later spotted shouting at someone while walking back. Rony fell later in the over, run out for 66 after being too careless to return to the crease, with Zakir Hasan, the new gloveman, getting a direct hit.
