Big Picture
Surprisingly, England and Bangladesh have never faced each other in T20Is before. Clashing for the first time in the format on Wednesday, they come out of different ends of the confidence spectrum from their last match: while Sri Lanka's new generation batters stunned Bangladesh with a superb chase, England trounced West Indies in a dominant show with the ball.
Moeen Ali and Tymal Mills led the destruction before Adil Rashid ran through the West Indies lower order with extraordinary figures of 4 for 2. England bowled West Indies out for 55, their second-lowest all out total in T20Is, and the lowest total by a Test-playing nation in the T20 World Cup.
And although England lost four wickets in the short chase, that wouldn't have bothered Eoin Morgan, as they preferred to tweak their batting order to suit the situation. Already Jason Roy and Jos Buttler offer one of the most dangerous opening pairings in the world, while a middle order consisting of Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone and Morgan remains a handful for any bowling attack.
Also, England's bowlers remain a threat for Bangladesh despite their encouraging score against Sri Lanka in Sharjah. Although Mohammad Naim remains in good form with two fifties in three innings in the tournament so far, he must pick up the pace once set. Liton Das hasn't hit his strides yet, with two dropped catches against Sri Lanka further denting his confidence.
Thus, Bangladesh will be reliant on their middle-order engine room of Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and captain Mahmudullah. Although Shakib missed out on a good score against Sri Lanka at No. 3, it is unlikely he will not be in the runs for too long, as Mushfiqur finally struck a T20I fifty in the last game - his first in two years.
Mahmudullah has his work cut out too. He is among the runs but his captaincy was being questioned after he used himself and Afif Hossain for three overs against Sri Lanka's left-hand batters, which eventually turned out to be big ones for the opponents. Bangladesh can't afford too many such mistakes against England or in any of their remaining matches.
They had said that they targeted reaching the semi-final this time, but for now they need to get going with a win first. England, meanwhile, look primed for another big performance.
Form guide
Bangladesh LWWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WWWLW
In the spotlight
Two half-centuries in the tournament has made Mohammad Naim one of the few success stories for Bangladesh so far, but the left-hand opener must do more during his time at the crease. Naim must accelerate during the latter part of the innings, especially since a set batter in the UAE conditions is priceless.
Moeen Ali pipped Rashid to the Player-of-the-Match award against West Indies, which was testament of his value during the powerplay. He already entered the T20 World Cup on the back of a successful IPL campaign with Chennai Super Kings, and his electric start gives England more stability in the absence of three allrounders.
Team news
Bangladesh may bring back Taskin Ahmed in place of Mohammad Saifuddin, after the fast-bowling allrounder was ruled out of the rest of the tournament through injury. Soumya Sarkar, Shamim Hossain and Shoriful Islam continue to warm the bench, as Bangladesh look likely to go with the tried-and-tested combination.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Mohammad Naim, 2 Liton Das, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim, 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Nasum Ahmed, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
Mark Wood missed England's opening game with a niggle in his left ankle which he suffered during the warm-up match against New Zealand. England expect him to be available for selection but may not risk him at an early stage of the tournament. Malan is expected to return to No. 3 unless England opt to pick an extra seamer.
England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Tymal Mills/Mark Wood
Stats and trivia
Rashid equaled Steve Tikolo's record for the cheapest four-wicket haul in T20Is with his 4 for 2 against West Indies, with Tikolo having bagged the same against Scotland in 2013.
Mushfiqur's unbeaten 57 against Sri Lanka was his maiden half-century in the T20 World Cup, coming in his 29th match.
Quotes
"I'm working as hard as I ever have off the field. I've had another really good training session and things feel like they're getting back to where they were in the summer. Hopefully I can take that into the next couple of games."
England batter Liam Livingstone is confident of a return to form after a lean run since the start of the IPL.
"We have the cutters of Mustafizur, the death bowling of Saifuddin and the pace of Taskin. We also have the pace of the left-handed variety of Shoriful in our squad. The captain, the coach and the chairman of selectors will look at all those options, and then choose the best option to win the match."
Bangladesh fast-bowling coach Ottis Gibson is banking on the variety of his attack against England.
