The ICC World Cup 2019 is less than a week away and the excitement and anticipation are overwhelming for all the cricket fans. After carefully weighing their strengths and weaknesses, all the teams involved have already released their squads.
All the teams are sweating it out in the warm-up games to get into the right rhythm with the official tournament set to start on May 30th. At Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Bangladesh will play its first practice match against Pakistan.
The matches for the warm-up will take place between May 24 and May 28. The schedule is as follows:
May 24:
Pakistan vs Afghanistan at County Ground, Bristol
South Africa vs Sri Lanka at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
May 25:
Australia vs England at The Rose Bowl, Southampton
New Zealand vs India at Kennington Oval, London
May 26:
West Indies vs South Africa at County Ground, Bristol
Bangladesh vs Pakistan at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
May 27:
Afghanistan vs England at Kennington Oval, London
Sri Lanka vs Australia at The Rose Bowl, Southampton
May 28:
West Indies vs New Zealand at County Ground, Bristol
India vs Bangladesh – Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
When it comes to ODI ranking, there is not much separation between the two sides. Pakistan is sixth, while Bangladesh is currently seventh. But it is Pakistan that comes into this encounter under pressure.
Since this is a warm-up match, they can use their full set of 15 players from both sides.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain, wicket-keeper), Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz.