Bangladesh coach cautious ahead of match with WI

SYLHET: Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes on Sunday said he was reluctant to consider his men favourites for the Twenty20 series against West Indies, despite a streak of hot form against the Caribbean visitors.

The three-match T20 contest gets underway Monday with Bangladesh riding high after beating the West Indies in the preceding Test and one-day international series on home soil.

The last time the two sides faced off in a T20 series was in the USA in July, when Bangladesh won 2-1.

But Rhodes urged his men against hubris, warning they would be coming up against a better-ranked side in the opener in Sylhet.

“We played well in the one-dayers and we should take a lot of confidence from that. We played well in the Test series, and that was fantastic,” Rhodes told reporters.

“But we are asking for more. We want the players to beat the West Indies in Twenty20. They’re ranked above us. They are world champions.

“We surprised them in Florida and surprised ourselves as well. But the plan is to go out there and win the series.

“We desperately want to do it and it’s going to be a lot tougher than the other two series because this is the format West Indies excel at.” Bangladesh suffered an injury scare before the series even got underway, with skipper Shakib Al Hasan struck by a ball on his toe during training session.