Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha believes
his side can rectify the batting errors by playing the five matches ahead of the T20 World
Cup.
Top-order batting has been a massive cause of concern for Bangladesh of late, as it has
undermined bowlers efforts in most of the matches.
Even though Bangladesh won the five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe by 4-1, their
batting gives them a big headache.
Bangladesh, however, will play a three-match T20 series against co-hosts the USA and then
play two practice matches against India and the Netherlands before the tournament proper.
‘We would love our top order to score all the time, but in that kind of scenario, it puts a lot of
pressure on the other players, but I’m confident that we have five matches leading up to the
first game. We will be able to get those areas of concern sorted,’ Hathurusingha said here
today.
‘I would say this way: in some matches, we managed to get a good start, and in others, when
we didn’t get a good start, we managed
to finish well and strong. So, everybody got an
opportunity to bat in the middle, and that was a positive. Yes, individually, some of the
players would have loved to spend time in the middle, scoring runs, but in T20 cricket,
anything can happen because it’s a very different game from the other two formats.’
Echoing the sentiment of captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, he said the preparation was perfect.
‘Our preparation, I thought, was very good. We had a good camp in Chattogram and then we
played five games against Zimbabwe. So, in those five games, we had the opportunity to give
most of the players that we wanted to expose in certain situations, we were able to give them.
There’s a little bit of concern about some individual performances. But other than that I
thought that was a good preparation. We got a lot out of it,’ he remarked.
Star all-rounder Shakib said in an event said that playing against Zimbabwe is not ideal
preparation for the World Cup but the head coach disagreed with it.
‘I don’t th
ink so. Playing matches is a good preparation. It’s a matter of any team because in
T20 cricket, the game is as such that every game can be tricky. Some teams stronger than
others. But preparation wise, I thought we had a good preparation playing against
Zimbabwe.’
It was the second ICC event in which Hathurusingha is guiding the side after his
reappointment. The first event, the ODI World Cup has been eventful as he was blamed for
Tamim Iqbal’s omission from the World Cup team.
Hathurusingha, however, avoided the issue when he was reminded.
‘My headspace has always been very clear. But, yeah, there was other challenges at times
because of injuries and different issues. This time, the selection was, I thought, pretty good.
We had a lot of good discussion leading up to, as well as after the series as well. One big one
was Taskin’s situation. Other than that, I’m very pleased with the outcome.’
He rather looked bit worried about USA condition because Bangladesh are not experienced
enough to play ov
er there.
‘It’s all about getting used to the condition of that country because we have never been, I
mean, I don’t think anyone has been there. Playing in USA is very new for everybody. So,
getting information about the condition, getting used to the climate and the different time
zone, things like that,’ he said.
‘It’s more important for us in training and as well as matches. In the games, we all want to
win, regardless of what games we play. Probably try a few combinations that we still think
want to try. But then, when I say try, we have to give rest to the key players as well. So, we
keep in mind that workload as well as keeping them fresh physically and mentally. But, main
focus is understanding the condition in USA.’
Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha