With two big events coming up, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) manager Habibul Bashar said that players should be supported even if they aren’t playing well. He also stressed how important it is for Bangladesh to play confident cricket.
Bashar tried to get across the idea that the Tigers have changed their style of play to be more aggressive, which has shown in their recent games.
“It’s clear what we want to do when we play cricket. You can see that we are playing differently now. We said we wanted to play fearless cricket, and we have been doing so for the last two or three games. “Our performances show this,” Bashar told press in Mirpur yesterday.
Even though the Tigers have been doing well lately, the starting spot is one of their biggest worries heading up to the Asia Cup.
The loss of opener Tamim Iqbal has given Tanzid Hasan Tamim and a battling Mohammad Naim a chance to play. Mohammad Naim scored the most runs in this year’s Dhaka Premier League, but he is still getting used to international cricket.
The form of ODI vice-captain Liton Das in all formats is another problem for head coach Chandika Hathurusingha. The right-handed hitter had a great year in 2022, when he was one of the top run scorers in all three forms. However, he hasn’t been able to live up to his standards in the year since.
The 28-year-old has played in 12 ODIs so far this year, scoring three fifties with an average of 30.1. This is a big drop from 2022, when he averaged 52.45 in 13 ODIs.
Even though the first spot is still up in the air, Bashar thinks that Liton and Naim can get out of their slump.
“If you want to play confident cricket, you have to back the players, because the main rule is that you play good cricket. If you don’t score runs in one or two games, your team will support you. It’s very important to give them trust.
“Liton Das is a very good cricket player. I would want him to get over this rough patch, and I’m sure he will. Cricketers sometimes go through this: they have a bad patch after a good one.
“Naim Sheikh has played cricket for a long time. He has played before, and after a long break, he is back. Someone who has been gone for a while should be given some time. There’s no question about how good they are. Everyone knows how to play well. I think there’s a chance they could do well on the big stage.”
While Tanzid waits to make his debut, Naim, who has only played four ODIs since making his debut in March 2020, hasn’t felt what it’s like to score 10 or more runs in a 50-over game for the Tigers. After Tamim Iqbal left, the 23-year-old played the last two ODIs against Afghanistan at home in July, but he only scored nine and zero.
Even though it’s unlikely, the Tigers could use one of two other options at the top of the order: In T20Is, Najmul Hossain Shanto has often started, and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan, who is now in charge of all three types of the game, has recently used Afif Hossain in the same role.