Bangladesh, for so long the perennial whipping boys of international cricket, will be hopeful of changing that perception when they arrive at the ICC World Twenty20.

    However, they will have to achieve that on the back of precious little international T20 cricket.

    Since the last World Twenty20 in 2009, in which Bangladesh lost both their matches, to India and Ireland respectively, they have only played two international T20 matches.

    They lost to West Indies in August last year before being thumped, by 10 wickets, by New Zealand in February.

    However, Bangladesh does have a trump card in the form of captain Shakib Al Hasan.

    The left-arm spinner would not look out of place in a World XI as his all-round abilities make him a match-winner.

    Shakib has scored four one-day international (ODI) hundreds at an average of over 34 while he has also captured 95 wickets at an average of just 30.73.

    Still only 23, Shakib has yet to succumb to the pressure of captaining his country while still being expected to score runs and take wickets.

    Known as the “Tigers’ the Bangladesh cricket team will not have an easy time advancing out of a group that includes Pakistan and Australia.

    However, if they can catch Pakistan on an off day, and repeat their famous five-wicket ODI victory over Australia in 2005 they could prove to be one of the ICC Twenty20 dark horses.

    But to have any chance of winning Shakib will have to receive support from his team-mates.

    Mohammad Ashraful is arguably Bangladesh’s most talented batsman. But the former national captain, still only 25-years-old, is coming off a poor run of form that saw him excluded from his country’s recent test series against England.

    The right-handed batsman holds the record as the youngest test centurion, a feat he accomplished against Sri Lanka in 2001, while he also recorded a ton in Bangladesh’s victory over Australia in 2005.

    His inclusion in the squad for the World Twenty20 affords Ashraful the opportunity to reclaim his place as one of his nation’s leading batsman. It is a chance he will not want to let go to waste.

    While Ashraful will want to resurrect his career, 21-year-old left-handed batsman Tamim Iqbal will be looking to take his to another level.

    Iqbal holds the record for the highest individual score in ODI’s for Bangladesh, a colossal 154 scored against Zimbabwe in 2009.

    He also emerged with credit from his country’s test series against England where he topped Bangladesh’s run-scoring charts with 237 runs at an average of 59.25.

    Bangladesh’s bowling attack looks a touch thin. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak is a competent back-up to Shakib while seamer Rubel Hossain has the ability to extract reverse-swing while bowling at a decent pace.

    Paceman Mashrafe Mortaza bowls at a lively pace and he will be key with the new ball.

    Bangladesh are considered rank outsiders for the ICC World Twenty20 but the short nature of the games means that the playing fields are leveled to a certain degree.

    Being the underdogs may just work in their favour.