The Tigers will have to work like a team if they fancy a win in their today's crunch World Cup game against the wounded English Lions. PHOTO: AFP Bangladesh may well have two opportunities to sneak into the quarterfinals, but make no mistake, today's match against England at the Adelaide Oval will be looked upon as a do or die encounter by both sides. Having been thrashed in three out of the four
games in this World Cup, England are struggling to get into their groove. On the contrary, Bangladesh are fresh from a record win against Scotland and they will be hoping to make the most of England's rough patch. Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has described this match as one of the most important matches in the history of Bangladesh's cricket and going by his statements in pre-match press conference yesterday, there's no doubt that Mashrafe wants to win this one desperately. Going into the match, there are two issues that the Tigers will need to decide on with regards to their line-up. The team management is reportedly looking to exploit England's weakness against spin by including Arafat Sunny in place of Nasir Hossain. Mashrafe even told reporters yesterday that he wanted an extra spinner in the side. If Sunny is included, then Bangladesh will finally go into a World Cup game without eight batsmen in the side. Imrul Kayes, who replaced the injured Anamul Haque, is expected to open alongside Tamim Iqbal today. Imrul has good memories against England. In the 2011 World Cup he scored a defiant half-century to turn the tides in Chittagong. The pitch at Adelaide is expected to be flat and has runs written all over it. Mashrafe reckons that a score of around 270 to 280 would be the minimum target that either side would be looking for. Rain is the other factor that could play a role in today's game. The weather forecast predicts brief showers in the morning. However, clear skies are expected in the afternoon. Advertisement With five points from four matches, only a point will be enough for Bangladesh to make it through to the next round. While England have won 13 out of the 15 encounters between the two sides, the encouraging aspect for Bangladesh is that they have won two out of the last three encounters. The last win came in the last match in Chittagong where Mahmudullah Riyad and Shafiul Islam shared a brilliant half-century stand for the ninth wicket towards the end to create history. That win however, wasn't enough to take the Tigers through to the next round. Four years on though, they have another opportunity and the 160 million fans back home hope that they can make the most of it; for this time it's all or nothing for the Tigers.
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