The Netherlands cricket team arrived in Bangladesh on Wednesday to play a three-match T20I series.
This is the first-ever bilateral series between Bangladesh and the Netherlands on Bangladeshi soil. Led by Scott Edwards, the Dutch team landed in Dhaka early in the morning and immediately headed to Sylhet, where all three matches of the series will be played.
Organized by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), this special series is being held outside the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) to help Bangladesh prepare for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Although this is the Netherlands’ third tour of Bangladesh, they have never played a bilateral series here before. They faced Bangladesh during the 2011 ICC World Cup but haven’t met them since on Bangladeshi soil. In the 2014 T20 World Cup, the Dutch played seven matches in Bangladesh, but none against the hosts.
In T20I head-to-head clashes, the two teams have met five times so far. Bangladesh has won four of those encounters, while the Netherlands’ only victory came at home in 2012.
Currently, Bangladesh sits at 10th place in the ICC T20I rankings, while the Netherlands are ranked 13th. Despite the gap, the Dutch team has been a regular feature in recent ICC tournaments and will be aiming to challenge the Tigers on their home turf.
The three-match series schedule:
- 1st T20I – Saturday
- 2nd T20I – Monday
- 3rd T20I – Wednesday
All matches will start at 6:00 PM local time.
With this series and the Asia Cup in focus, the Bangladesh team has been in intensive preparation for the past three weeks. After initial training in Mirpur, they’ve been practicing in Sylhet for the past week to fine-tune their strategies ahead of the contests.
