Bangladesh are all systems go for two-game face-off against T20I-happy UAE

Bangladesh have picked five batters that have to be fitted into the top four. Tanzid Hasan is likely to open with Soumya Sarkar with captain Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto likely to come in next. They will get first dibs before Parvez Hossain Emon, who is still in a development stage as a T20 opener. Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Jaker Ali have strong strike rates that should come in handy in the later overs, before Rishad Hossain and Mahedi Hasan come in as the designated hitters.

Bangladesh's pace attack is also quite full, with Mustafizur Rahman the most experienced, and Tanzim Hasan the most versatile. Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud and Shoriful Islam are also in the squad, while left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam is the back-up spinner to Rishad and Mahedi.

Jaker has already bailed out the Bangladesh batting several times in his first year in international cricket. He made a bright start against Sri Lanka last year before losing his way during the T20 World Cup, but made important runs in both Tests and T20Is on the West Indies tour, striking the ball sweetly, especially on the leg side.

Jaker is a heavy run-getter in the middle-order in domestic cricket, which has now translated into good form at the highest level. There are more attractive strokemakers in the middle order, like Shamim and Hridoy, but Jaker is the one Bangladesh rely on the most these days. He has earned that reputation.

UAE will have little time to recalibrate to T20 mode after their trip for to the Netherlands for the Cricket World Cup League 2 matches, where they were beaten by both the hosts and Scotland, winning just one game in the last two weeks. Rahul Chopra's century and Simranjeet Singh's four-wicket haul in a match against Scotland were the only real high points from the tour for UAE. They should, however, feel better playing T20Is, their best format.

Their good form in the format helped them qualify for this year's Asia Cup after they dominated the Asian Cricket Council's Premier Cup last year. But UAE haven't really played a lot of cricket against the Full-Member teams. Afghanistan beat them 2-1 in their bilateral series in 2023-24. They also beat New Zealand in 2023, while they lost a similar two-match series against Bangladesh in 2022.

Muhammad Waseem is the highest run-getter in T20Is in the world since his debut in 2021, but it hasn't gone too well for him of late. Waseem went through the ILT20 without scoring a half-century - the last time he did was in December last year, against Qatar. He has also scored just a single ODI fifty in the last two years.

Waseem, the UAE captain, had a very brief stint in the BPL, when he appeared for Chattogram Challengers in one game in the 2023-24 season. He made just one run then. However, Waseem is the most prominent UAE batter, so the Bangladesh analysts will rev up their laptops to show his footage to the bowlers. Waseem on song is a treat to watch, but it has been a long time since he has really taken on a top attack.

Night games will be welcomed by the players in Sharjah, which is very hot at the moment. The temperatures are in the high 30s (Celsius) this week.

Bangladesh, though, have some idea about the Sharjah pitches, where they played the three ODIs against Afghanistan last year, while UAE don't play much of their home T20Is in Sharjah. Generally, 170-180 would be seen as competitive totals; the two 180-plus scores were both comfortably defended in Sharjah in the last two years.