Bangladesh captain Shanto spoke candidly about the team’s continued troubles, especially in the vital powerplay overs, following the team’s seven-wicket loss to India in the first match.
Bangladesh’s captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, spoke candidly about the team’s continued troubles, especially in the vital powerplay overs, following the team’s seven-wicket defeat by India in the first match of their three-match T20I.
Bangladesh has recently had difficulty and has not been able to maintain consistency in the game’s shortest format. These problems were evident in the most recent game against India, when Bangladesh scored just 39 runs during the powerplay and ultimately set a target of 128. Conversely, the Men in Blue easily reached the mark with 49 balls remaining after racing to 71 runs in their powerplay. Shanto addressed the team’s faults head-on in his post-match remarks.
Powerplay should be taken seriously. The strategy we discussed (before the match) will work if we get off to a strong start at bat. We need to score runs in the opening six overs and hold onto the wickets. If not, it will become too difficult for the people that arrive after them. We’ve had trouble with the powerplay. Shanto told reporters following the game that those batting in the power play needed to be more accountable.
We didn’t play poorly, in my opinion: Hossain Shanto of Najmul
The opening pair has scored just 69 runs in their last eight innings, including a stand of just 35. The middle order has continuously been under pressure due to this lack of a strong foundation. Shanto stated that the team’s approach to Twenty20 cricket had basic faults in addition to the continuous troubles in the powerplay.
We didn’t play poorly, in my opinion. This is not our best team. Although we haven’t performed well in this style recently, I don’t think our team is all that horrible. I have no desire to discuss any one athlete. I believe that today’s batting lineup wasn’t very good. We will approach scoring with vigour, but there will be instances when accurate ball selection is required. “We will think about it, but we can’t jump into changing our strategy,” he said.
The southpaw also emphasised the differences between local and global cricket conditions. Shanto is still upbeat about his team’s prospects even though he acknowledges the skill gap that separates Bangladesh from elite T20I teams like India.
We are capable, yet there is still space for growth. For the past ten years, this is how we have been hitting. We perform well at times. We need to adjust in certain ways, maybe even in our home practice. At home, we play on 140–150 wickets. Our hitters are incapable of scoring 180 runs. He said, “I won’t blame just the wickets; we also need to look at skills and mentality.”
