Dhaka: With a sweet memory of beating them in the Asia Cup, Bangladesh will start their Super-10 campaign of the ICC World Twenty20 taking on Pakistan in a Group-2 match on Wednesday (Mar 16) at the cricketers’ dream venue— Eden Gardens— in Kolkata.

The match will kick off at 3:30 Bangladesh time. Tickets of the Bangladesh-Pakistan match have almost sold out as Bangladesh emerged as the new force in the world cricket eliminating Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the Asia Cup T20 Cricket.  

The Tigers have a glorious record of beating Pakistan in five consecutive matches— three in ODI cricket and two in T20 international— at home. But in the T20 format, Pakistan enjoy an upper hand beating Bangladesh by seven occasions in their previous nine meetings.  

Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan in the three-match ODI series and maintained their winning run beating Pakistan by seven wickets in the lone T20 match last year.

The Tigers took them to a new height eliminating Pakistan from the recently held Asia Cup T20 beating them by five wickets.

Bangladesh entered the 10-team final round of the shorter version of global cricket as Group-A champions with unbeaten record beating Oman by a huge margin of 54 runs under the D/L method in a rain-interrupted group deciding match last Sunday.  

Replying to Bangladesh’s mammoth total of 180 for 2 featuring maiden century by Tamim Iqbal, Oman folded their innings on 65 for 9 in curtailed 12 overs.

The Tigers made a good start in the qualifying round beating the Netherlands by eight runs in the first match and shared points with Ireland in the 2nd match scoring 94 runs for 2 in 8 overs before the match was abandoned due to rain in Dharamsala.  

After a successful three-match qualifying round, Bangladesh entered the five-team Group-2 of the Super-10 stage along with Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand.

In the match against Pakistan on Wednesday, most of the Bangladeshi players are going to fulfill dream to play in the traditional Eden Gardens in Kolkata as several generations of Bangladeshi cricketers missed out on that opportunity, and Mashrafe Mortaza will lead Bangladesh to their first match at the ground since 1990.

They are unlikely to be in for an easy ride against a Pakistan side that has too many things to prove after a disastrous Asia Cup and the subsequent criticism back home. Pakistan will bank on the batting form of Sarfraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal but they would also desperately want their top three - Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez - to fire.

The bowling attack will rely largely on Mohammad Amir, though Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz will look to keep Bangladesh's top-order quiet. Shahid Afridi, Malik and perhaps Imad Wasim - Pakistan's spin attack - will have a tough battle against the middle-order.

Bangladesh would be worried about the formation of their bowling attack. Taskin Ahmed is set to play; Taskin and Arafat Sunny went to Chennai to have their actions tested after they were reported last week.  

Mustafizur Rahman's fitness, as a result, would be very important if Bangladesh are to field a strong bowling attack. Mushfiqur Rahim's batting form is another worry but so far Tamim Iqbal has spoken loudly with his bat with knocks of 83* and 103* in the qualifier stage.

Bangladesh will also be pleased with Shakib Al Hasan's rediscovery of his timing with the bat and contributions with the ball. Sabbir Rahman and Mahmudullah have also been in good form. Al-Amin Hossain has risen to No. 6 in the T20 bowling rankings and will have to come up with the goods for Bangladesh in the last few overs.

Sabbir Rahman has been Bangladesh's go-to batsman in the top-order in 2016 with 388 runs in 12 T20I innings at an average of 43.11, including two fifties. He can look to Tamim for lessons on building a T20 innings, as he has shown a tendency to throw it away after getting set.

If Mustafizur Rahman is declared fit, it will be a straight swap between him and Abu Hider.

Bangladesh Squad (probable): Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman/Abu Hider Rony and Taskin Ahmed

Pakistan Squad (probable): Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (capt), Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan