Sofia T20 International Tournament preview

The Bulgarian Cricket Federation (BCF) are preparing to host a men’s quadrangular series in Sofia from 24 to 27 June. The Sofia T20 International Tournament has been organised to mark 20 years of cricket since the official foundation of the BCF. Matches will be played at the National Sports Academy and will have full Twenty20 International status.

Three of their neighbours – Greece, Romania and Serbia – will be travelling to the Bulgarian capital to compete for local bragging rights. Romania last faced Bulgaria at the Balkan Cup series in October 2020, where they recovered from losing the opening match to claim the series 3–1. Greece and Serbia, have not played any internationals since making their T20I debut during an October 2019 tri-nation series in Corfu. Serbia lost both of their games in Corfu against Bulgaria and Greece by 6 and 10 wickets, respectively. Greece outclassed Bulgaria by 9 wickets in the round-robin. However, fortunes were reversed in the final, Bulgaria taking it by 18 runs.

The teams will contest the Sofia T20 International Tournament in a round-robin, followed by semi-finals and a final. The Romanians, ranked 42nd in the ICC rankings, will arrive in Sofia as favourites. However, Bulgaria (ranked 67th) will be hoping for success on home soil. Meanwhile, Greece and Serbia are currently unranked due to having played too few matches in recent years.

Bulgaria will be led by captain Prakash Mishra and vice-captain Hristo Lakov. Romania’s squad is captained by Ramesh Satheesan and will feature one of Europe’s most well-known players, Pavel Florin. Meanwhile, Anastasios Manousis and Aleksa Djorović will captain Greece and Serbia, respectively.

Squads

Bulgaria

Prakash Mishra (captain), Hristo Lakov (vice-captain), Jacob Albin, Sulaiman Ali, Rohan Bhavesh Patel, Kevin D’Souza, Aravinda De Silva, Vasil Hristov, Boiko Ivanov, Hristo Ivanov, Ivaylo Katzarski, Aswad Khan, Fayaz Mohammad, Nikolay Nankov, Dimo Nikolov, Bakhtiar Tahiri, Delrick Varghese, Nikolay Yordanov. Reserves: Zain Asif, Deve Patel.

Greece

Anastasios Manousis (captain), Arsalan Ahmed, Asrar Ahmed, Aslam Mohammad, Georgios Galanis, Spiros Gasteratos, Nikolaos Katechis, Alexandros Lagos, Amarpreet Mehmi, Nikolaos Mourikis, Spiros Siriotis, Amanullah Syed, Spiros Tsirigotis, Thomas Zotos

Romania

Ramesh Satheesan (captain), Waqar Abbasi, Pavel Florin, Ijaz Hussain, Aftab Kayani, Gohar Manan, Patras Masih, Satvik Nadigotla, Sivakumar Periyalwar, Vasu Saini, Abdul Shakoor, Taranjeet Singh, Sudeep Thakur, Sami Ullah, Shantanu Vashisht, Cosmin Zavoiu

Serbia

Aleksa Djorović (captain), Rahman Ademi, Wintley Burton, Brett Davidson, Dragan Djokić, Michael Dorgan, Bogdan Dugić, Nick Johns-Wickberg, Apon Mustafizur, Danijel Petrović, Jovan Reb, Matija Šarenac, Slobodan Tošić, Nemanja Zimonjić, Vukašin Zimonjić. Reserve: Stefan Nerandžić.

Fixtures

24 June
14:00 – Bulgaria v Serbia
17:30 – Greece v Romania

25 June
10:00 – Greece v Serbia
13:30 – Bulgaria v Romania
17:00 – Romania v Serbia

26 June
10:00 – Bulgaria v Greece
13:30 – 1st semi-final
17:00 – 2nd semi-final

27 June
11:00 – Final

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