‘A’ team begin Top End T20 campaign against Shaheens today

Bangladesh 'A' team will be eyeing to make a winning start in the Top End T20 Series when they take on Pakistan Shaheens in the tournament opener at TIO Stadium in Darwin, Australia today.

The match will start at 03:30pm Bangladesh time and will be telecast live on T Sports.

Bangladesh, under the banner of the High Performance XI, had emerged as runners-up in last year's edition, losing to Adelaide Strikers Academy by 32 runs in the final.

This year, a more experienced side under the leadership of Nurul Hasan Sohan, and national team players like Mohammad Naim, Nayeem Hasan and Hasan Mahmud have been selected in an attempt to better their previous year's result in the 11-team competition.

Pakistan Shaheens, which had reached the semifinal last year, want to start the tournament well against the Bangladeshi side.

"We are aiming to take the best possible combination into the match. Bangladesh 'A' are also a strong side, so our focus will be on fielding the right combination, especially as this is the first game of the tournament and we want to start well," Pakistan skipper Muhammad Irfan Khan was quoted in a PCB press release yesterday.

Bangladesh 'A' team will play at least five more matches in the tournament. They will play against Nepal, Perth Scorchers, Northern Territory Strike, Melbourne Star and Adelaide Strikers on August 16, 17, 19, 21 and 23 respectively.

Both semifinals and final will take place on August 24.