Bangladesh cricket team left for the USA in the early hours of Thursday for the T20 World Cup, which begins in USA and the West Indies on June 2.

The loss for Rajasthan hurt their chances of a top-two finish in the league stage.

The 34,000-capacity stadium will host the hotly-anticipated India-Pakistan clash on June 9, among its eight scheduled World Cup games.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu conveyed his best wishes to the Bangladesh men’s national cricket team who will embark on their journey to the ICC T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies in the early hours of Thursday.

Bangladesh’s 15-member T20 World Cup squad posed for a photo session in their national team suits following a practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Wednesday. Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha spoke in their final press conference before leaving the country. The Tigers will fly to the USA in the early hours of Thursday and will play a three-match series against the co-hosts of the T20 World Cup before taking part in a warm-up game to complete their build-up to the major event. Photos: Firoz Ahmed

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha insisted that his side had had a good initial preparation phase heading into the T20 World Cup next month in the USA and West Indies. 

Nepali cricket star Sandeep Lamichhane had his rape conviction quashed on appeal Wednesday after the former national captain challenged an eight-year jail sentence for sexual assault handed down in January.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto hoped that the younger players perform well to honour two veterans – Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad, in the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies.

The race to be the No.1 ranked all-rounder at the start of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup has further intensified as two players share top billing following the latest update to the ICC Men's T20 Player Rankings.

Young Australian batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk has a long career ahead despite missing out on a T20 World Cup berth, according to his IPL team director Sourav Ganguly.

Rishabh Pant's middle-order experience can help him edge out Sanju Samson and become India's preferred wicketkeeper-batsman at the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States next month, former India batsman Gautam Gambhir said.

Babar Azam-led Pakistan will play four-match series against defending champions England from May 22-30. The series will be an important one for Pakistan and England ahead of the T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies.

Despite his injury status, pacer Taskin Ahmed found himself part of the 15-member World Cup squad but also with the vice-captaincy role.

Bangladesh are stepping on to another T20 World Cup, on the back of a disastrous outing in the 2022 edition in Australia. The make-up of the team will possibly not stir a storm in a teacup, but the expectations from the side was nevertheless questioned in context of the recently concluded series against Zimbabwe where the Tigers may not have been tested to World Cup standards.

Babar and Rizwan's 139-run stand proved decisive.

Lucknow have their hopes hanging by a thread.

Bangladesh’s chairman of the selection committee Gazi Ashraf Lipu said star bowler Taskin Ahmed’s inclusion in the 15-member T20 World Cup squad was based on his tentative recovery ‘at some point’ in the major tournament.  

“We had formed a team in light of the BPL, and we didn’t deviate a lot from that squad. Saifuddin is the only player from the squad we had submitted on the 30th who didn’t make it in the final cut.”

The Bangladesh team will be leaving for the USA on Wednesday. The Tigers will play a three-match T20 series against the USA starting on May 21 before beginning their T20 World Cup campaign.

The two teams are currently battling it out in a three-match T20I series in Ireland in preparation for next month's ICC Men's T20 World Cup and Cricket Ireland’s Chair Brian MacNeice held discussions with PCB Chair Mohsin Naqvi in relation to their tour of Pakistan in 2025.