Sports Desk:

Putting their Test series disappointment behind, Bangladesh vowed to unleash a new approach to keep under immense pressure as they take on the hosts in the three-match T20 International series opening game tomorrow at Gwalior.

“From this series, you will see our players trying to play with a new approach. Everyone will play to win,” Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto told the reporters yesterday at Gwalior.

Bangladesh came into the T20 series on the back of being swept in two-match Test series. While they were outplayed in Chennai to loss the first Test by 280 runs, in the second Test, they were treated in utter disdain.

Despite the Test being cut down to less than two and half days due to inclement weather, Bangladesh still found them in wanting to loss the Test by seven wickets with one and half session still to play.

The disgraceful defeat in both Tests meant, India remained unconquered for them in the longer version format.

In T20 International too, Bangladesh’s record against India is vulnerable as they lost 13 out of 14. But the only victory that they secured came on Indian soil in their last tour in 2019.

Bangladesh began the 2019 series with a victory in Delhi but lost the last two matches in Rajkot and Nagpur to squander the series to 2-1.

Despite being at the receiving end in Test series, Bangladesh’s chance to win the series still looked possible as Indian T20 side has been in a transition process following the retirement of their two biggest stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

While most of the players of Bangladesh who played the Test series will be in T20 squad, no players in Test squad of India made room in T20 squad.

Shanto said that the every T20I series from now on will be approached with an eye on the next World Cup in 2026.

“I believe that in addition to the players currently in the squad, four-five more players will join, and these could be the ones who will play in the 2026 World Cup. So, I think our preparation will properly begin from this series,” he said.

“From now on we will definitely keep the 2026 T20 World Cup in mind. There are 15 players in this squad and there are also 4/5 more outside of it. With these 20-22 players, a solid preparation will take place, and they are the ones who will play in the future. So, the preparation starts now.”

With the series, Bangladesh will start their life without the ace allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who has recently retired from this format.

Bangladesh brought in Mehidy Hasan Miraz to fill the giant shoes of Shakib and Shanto expects he will thrive in to fill the void like Shakib.

“Shakib bhai has been with us for so long that it will naturally take some adjustment to fill his place,” Shanto said.

“I wouldn’t call it a major adjustment issue, but there will be a bit of difficulty arranging the playing XI without him. He provided a great combination of both batting and bowling. So, we’ve brought in Miraz, and we hope that he’ll quickly adapt to that role,” he added.

Squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Das, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Rakibul Hasan.

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, JItesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav.