T20 World Cup: West Indies faces Bangladesh in must-win game

West Indies needs to defeat Bangladesh in Sharjah on Friday to keep alive its hopes of retaining its T20 World Cup crown.

West Indies hasn’t won a single game so far in the UAE.

After back-to-back defeats, defending champion West Indies needs to defeat Bangladesh here on Friday to keep its hopes of qualifying for the semifinals alive.

Not having won a single game in the UAE so far - not even in warm-ups - Kieron Pollard’s men will be keen to turn the tide. They will first need to sort out their batting problems.

Against England, they were bowled out for 55 and all their batters seemed to throw away their wickets going for big shots. In the second game, against South Africa, Lendl Simmons was chosen to anchor the innings but the move didn’t work as the opener was painfully slow, managing 16 off 35 balls. It meant other batters - including Evin Lewis, who hit a quick-fire half-century - took risks and lost their wickets.

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Going ahead, Simmons could be replaced by Roston Chase, who anchored the innings well while scoring an unbeaten 54 in the warm-up match against Afghanistan. A useful bowler, Chase can also give the team another spin bowling option.

The West Indian bowlers have also looked ordinary with not enough runs to defend. Only left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein has impressed.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, has given a better account of itself at the T20 World Cup, challenging Sri Lanka in a close battle here on Sunday. Like West Indies, it is yet to notch up a single win in the competition and will need to win to prevent an early exit.

A special performance from Shakib Al Hasan could make the difference between the two sides.

• West Indies : Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran, Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr.
• Bangladesh : Mahmudullah (capt), Liton Das, Mohammed Naim, Mahedi Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nurul Hasan, Afif Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Shamim Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammed Saifuddin and Shoriful Islam.
• Match starts 3:30 PM IST.