Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan believes Bangladesh team had adequate preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Leading up to the world event, Bangladesh have played 16 matches in the shortest format – three in New Zealand, three in Zimbabwe and five each at home against Australia and New Zealand.
Off the 16 Bangladesh won nine and this left an impact in the ranking.
Bangladesh are now at No 7 in the T20 ranking moving up from No 10.
“I would say we overall had a good preparation. Despite the Covid-19 situation, we have been able to tour Zimbabwe and then play all the games in the two series at home [against Australia and New Zealand] despite the chances of rain being a spoiler here,” said Nazmul following Bangladesh’s 3-2 series win against New Zealand at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Friday.
There is however, debate the way the matches have turned out against Australia and New Zealand in Dhaka.
The wickets in Mirpur were the topic of discussion for being slow, low and turning to edge the home team spinners, rather than being sporty, as is likely to be the case in the two host countries for the T20 World Cup – United Arab Emirates and Oman.
It is understood that BCB and the team management chose to take home advantage and add some wins against superior opponents, without thinking of the need for the batting unit, who struggled ahead of a major event.
“Everyone wants to win. You can't disagree that we were one of the bottom ranked teams even a few days back. We are not a perfect team for T20 cricket for which we tried some experiments. We promoted young cricketers. We are still in the experiment phase. T20 cricket is power game and if you see we are not being able to take advantage in the first six overs. So winning was important for us as I believe this will create chance for us to do well [in the T20 World Cup]. Winning the three series will build up confidence in the cricketers,” said Nazmul.
“The batters I hope will perform when they get good wickets [in Oman and UAE]. The top four batsmen are important. The game fades away if the top four or five batsmen fails. We all know [Mohammad] Naim has the ability to score, Liton Das is not a new cricketer and of course he as the capability. There is Shakib [al Hasan] who can turn the game against any opponent. Then there is Mushfiqur [Rahim], he is not being able to score at the moment but he is our best batsman. I believe we will have an improved performance as a team when these guys start scoring runs,” the BCB chief explained.