Dhaka, May 29 (UNB) – It was a huge blow for Bangladesh when captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza suffered a hamstring strain on his left leg during the last warm-up match against India on Tuesday.

But the skipper is expected to lead Tigers in their World Cup opener against South Africa on June 2, although it is uncertain whether he will be fully fit by then.

Mashrafe got injured while bowling an extended spell of six overs against Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He finished with an economical figure 23 runs without any wicket.

He suffered a hamstring strain during the sixth over. Mashrafe was supposed to stop after four or five overs, but continued to bowl to take control of the situation as Rohit and Kohli were looking to score runs quickly.

Soon after the injury, Mashrafe left the field and was seen in the dressing room as Shakib Al Hasan captained the side. Mashrafe did not come out to bat as Bangladesh fell 95 runs short chasing India’s 359.

After the game, Mashrafe admitted that Bangladesh had a few injury concerns. Shakib has recently recovered from a side strain, while Mustafizur Rahman is nursing a calf injury.

Tamim Iqbal, too, didn’t play against India due to a minor thigh strain he suffered during training a couple of days ago. He is expected to be fit for the South Africa game.
 

Dhaka, May 29 (UNB) - The wait is finally over. The 12th edition of ICC World Cricket World Cup is all set to begin  in England and Wales on Thursday, with the opening match between the hosts England and South Africa at the Kennington Oval, London.

The match will start at 3:30pm (BbST) and will be telecast in Bangladesh by Maasranga, GTV & BTV. At the same time, the live streaming of all the matches will be available through Rabbithole in YouTube and Bioscope (bioscopelive.com) in Bangladesh.

In this edition of the World Cup, 10 Test-playing nations are the participants. The top eight teams got the direct promotion to the World Cup, while Afghanistan and West Indies came to the main tournament playing a qualifying round last year in Zimbabwe. The hosts Zimbabwe, however, missed the chance of qualifying to the World Cup. Afghanistan won the final beating West Indies by seven wickets to ensure their second consecutive participation in the World cup. 

Along with two semi-finals and a final, a total of 48 matches will be played across 10 different venues of England and Wales. The latest edition of the World Cup is going to be fifth in England and second jointly in England and Wales. The 1999 edition was the last time when England hosted a World Cup.

The league stage matches will be played till July 7. After that, the semi-finals will take place on July 9 and 11 respectively at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester and Edgbaston, Birmingham. The final will be held on July 14 at the Lord's, London.

The World Cup is backing to England when the hosts are being considered to be the hot favourite of the event. After the shock defeat to Bangladesh in the last World Cup, England played 90 ODIs and came up victorious in 59 of them. The are no teams to dominate the ODI format in this period. 

While England are being considered to be the favourite, India and the defending champions Australia are not too behind. At the same time, South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies are also at the centre of contention to be triumphant at the end of the event. 

As per the latest ICC team ranking in ODIs right before the World Cup, England are number one with some great performances throughout the year. England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are placed right behind them. 

Australia were struggling after the ball tempering scandal during their last tour to South Africa. Two of their premium performer — Steve Smith and David Warner— banned for a year due to their involvement in the event of altering the ball.  However, they are backed before the marquee tournament after serving a year-long embargo imposed by Cricket Australia.

Before coming to the World Cup, Australia displayed their appetite to do well in the mega event. They have whitewashed Pakistan in the last ODI series before the World Cup, which will surely boost their confidence. 

Unlike the last World Cup, every team will take on each other this time. After the league stage, the top four teams will be qualified for the semi-finals. According to the analysts, this format is going to make this World Cup one of the most competitive in history.

Bangladesh are one of the three most experienced teams in this World Cup in terms of playing most aggregative ODIs as a team. Many analysts believe, Bangladesh have the ability to be the dark-horse of this World Cup. 

There are four players in the Bangladesh squad who are going to play their fourth World Cup. Besides this, they have some young talent as Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat who are going to taste the World Cup for the first time. They made it to the World Cup proving their worth in international cricket. 

The Tigers will start their World Cup assault with the match against South Africa on June 2 at the Kennington Oval, London. Right after that, they will lock horn with New Zealand and the hosts England respectively on June 5 and 8. 

It is believed that Bangladesh’s most exciting match will against their sub-continental opponent Sri Lanka (June 11), India (July 2) and Pakistan (July 5). 

Other exciting matches

India vs Australia (June 9), India vs New Zealand (June 13), India vs Pakistan (June 16), Pakistan vs South Africa (June 23), England vs Australia (June 25), West Indies vs India (June 27), New Zealand vs Australia (June 29), England vs India (June 30), England vs New Zealand (July 3), Australia vs South Africa (June 6)

Who won it most

Australia are the most dominant team in the history of the World Cup. They have won it five times which is the most by any team. No other teams won it more than twice. India and West Indies are the champions to two times. Pakistan and Sri Lanka lift the silverware once each. England played the finals three times but failed to win it even once, and New Zealand are only other team who appeared in a final.

London, May 29 (AP/UNB) — India thrashed Bangladesh by 95 runs and the West Indies outgunned New Zealand by 91 runs in the last Cricket World Cup warmups on Tuesday.

The tournament starts on Thursday, when England and South Africa meet at the Oval.

India put up 359-7 and bowled out Bangladesh for 264 in Cardiff.

A patchy start from India — Shikhar Dhawan leg before on 1, Rohit Sharma dragging on on 19, Virat Kohli making 47 from 46 balls — was compensated by No. 4 Lokesh Rahul hitting 108 off 99 balls, including a dozen boundaries and four sixes.

Rahul and Mahendra Singh Dhoni combined for 164 for the fifth wicket.

Dhoni was out in the last over after slogging 113 off 78 balls, including eight boundaries and seven sixes.

Bangladesh tried nine bowlers to stem the onslaught to no avail.

Bangladesh's chase was undermined quickly, as opener Soumya Sarkar went for 25, and Shakib Al Hasan for a duck on the next ball.

A comeback was mounted by Liton Das, who hit 73 off 90 balls, and Mushfiqur Rahim, 90 off 94, but the run rate kept rising.

After Das departed after a 120-run stand, Bangladesh lost three wickets in seven wickets for no runs; Mushfiqur was bowled by Kuldeep Yadav trying to sweep, Mosaddek Hossain was stumped next ball for a duck, and in the next over, Sabbir Rahman chopped on Ravindra Jadeja on 7.

Left-arm spinners Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal received 10 overs each of work and both took three wickets.

India gets underway against South Africa on June 5. Bangladesh also opens against the Proteas, on Sunday.

The West Indies slayed the New Zealand bowlers. They hit 41 boundaries and 18 sixes. Nine batsmen hit sixes.

Shai Hope starred with 101 off 86 balls. Opener Evin Lewis added 50, and Andre Russell knocked 54 at the end.

Matt Henry felt the brunt of the West Indies' attitude, taking two wickets but conceding 107 off nine overs. Fellow fast bowler Lockie Ferguson conceded 86 in 10 overs.

Teammate Trent Boult was the best bowler on either side, taking four wickets, two catches, and featuring in a run out.

New Zealand started badly at 33-3, but Kane Williamson and Tom Blundell combined for 120 until Williamson was run out for 85 off 64 balls.

Blundell, the backup wicketkeeper to the injured Tom Latham and yet to make his one-day international debut, struck 106 off 89. When he was the sixth man out, New Zealand's dim hopes faded away, despite poor fielding again by the West Indies.

Fast bowler Kemar Roach bowled only five overs and took 1-18.

The West Indies open against Pakistan on Friday. New Zealand plays Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Dhaka, May 28 (UNB) — India on Tuesday overwhelmed  the Tigers at Cardiff in all three departments of the game, winning by 95 runs. It was the final warm-up game before the ICC World Cup. 

After two brilliant tons by Lokesh Rahul and MS Dhoni to put a total of 359 by seven, India bowled Bangladesh out for just 264, well short of the target.  

While chasing the big target of 360, three Bangladeshi batsmen recorded golden ducks – out first ball -  which meant the chase could never really get going. It also put question marks over their confidence heading into the World Cup. 

However, Bangladesh was on the control in the opening stand when Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das added 49 runs in the first wicket partnership. But right after Soumya’s dismissal for 25, Shakib Al Hasan fell for nothing while facing his first delivery off Jasprit Bumrah. 

In the third wicket stand, Liton and Mushfiqur Rahim came up with a strong reply scoring 120 in the stand. Liton was solid against the quality spin attack of India. He hit Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja for boundaries several with two consecutive fours off Bumrah. But he fell for 73 while to a great stumping by MS Dhoni. 

Mushfiq, on the other end of the wicket, was going to hit a ton. But fell for 90. He hit eight fours and two big sixes in his watchful stay in the middle. 

In the very next ball, Bangladesh lost Mohammad Mithun for another duck. After that, Mahmudullah Riyad (9), Sabbir Rahman (7) and Mosaddek Hossain (0) were removed by Yadav and Jadeja in quick succession. Mosaddek was the third batsman to have suffered another golden duck. 
 

In the eighth wicket partnership, Mohammad Saifuddin and Mehidy Hasan Miraz added 46 runs. However, the match was gone away from the control of the Tigers before that. 

Eventually, the Tigers ended up losing all of the wickets scoring 264 in 49.3 overs. 

For India, Kuldeep and Chahal took three wickets each. Besides them, Bumrah bagged two and Jadeja took one wicket. 

Earlier, Bangladesh have won the toss and decided to bowl first. India were tottering at the start of their innings under the cloudy condition. However, they managed to adapt to the condition and put up a big score with the help of Rahul (108) and Dhoni (113), who have added 164 in the fifth wicket stand. Along with them, Indian captain Virat Kohli was also outstanding with the bat scoring 47 off 46 with five fours. 

For the Tigers, Rubel Hossain and Shakib bagged two wickets each while Saifuddin and Sabbir took one wicket each.

Bangladesh will start their World Cup assault on June 2 against Africa at the Kennington Oval, London, while India will take on South Africa in their first match on June 5 at Southampton.

Dhaka, May 28 (UNB)— Cricket lovers will be able to watch World Cup matches on Banglalink ‘Game On’, a 360 degree digital sports platform, and Rabbithole.

The matches will be broadcast live with English commentary on ‘Game On’ which is accessible through an app, a website and an IVR system. 

Banglalink ‘Game On’ was officially launched at Tiger’s Den, Banglalink HQ on Tuesday. 

Banglalink’s Digital Business Director Gaurav Kakkar, Brands and Communications Director Qazi Urfi Ahmad, Digital Services Director Abdul Muqit Ahmed, Head of eProduct Anik Dhar, Chairman of Live Media Ltd Md Sharif Uddin (Titu), and other senior officials of the company were present.

Subscribed Banglalink customers will get news alerts, event notifications, match results, live match commentary, live score updates and match schedules. 

A single-point charging system on the platform will enable Banglalink subscribers to enjoy the live cricket actions through different accessibility options. The ‘Game On’ Final app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.livemedia.gameon. 

In case the subscribers want to access the platform directly through the web, they need to visit: http://gameon.com.bd/. For accessing it through IVR, they have to dial 22020. Tk 2 +(VAT,SD,SC)/day will be charged for activating the service through any option.

Gaurav Kakkar said they were excited to bring the live streaming facility. “It’ll give them (cricket fans) the opportunity to enjoy the upcoming World Cup anytime, anywhere. It’ll undoubtedly enhance their World Cup excitement during the tournament,” he said.

Meanwhile, ICC official digital broadcasting partner ‘Rabbithole’ will live telecast all the matches free on its website.

Robi subscribers can login for registration with their mail ID or phone numbers at www.rabbitholebd.com.