Bangladesh face UAE in T20 series in Sharjah on May 17

Ahead of their Pakistan tour, Bangladesh will play against the United Arab Emirates in two T20 games in the Gulf country on May 17 and 19 as part of the Tigers’ preparation for next year’s showcase event.

Both matches will be held at 7pm local time and 9pm Bangladesh time, at the Sharjah International Cricket Stadium, the Emirates Cricket Board announced on Friday.

It will be Bangladesh’s second bilateral series with the UAE after their encounter in Dubai just before the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup. Bangladesh had won both the matches then.

From Sharjah, the Bangladesh team will fly directly to Pakistan on May 21 for five 20-over games, with the first two scheduled to be held in Faisalabad on May 25 and 27 and the last three in Lahore on May 30, Jun 1 and 3.

The Pakistan series was previously slated as a limited-overs series with three ODIs and as many T20s, but it was later changed to only T20s with sights set on the approaching 10th edition of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February.