Bangladesh T20 side's technical consultant Sridharan Sriram believes the national team are on the road to becoming a good T20I side and that they are motivated to perform well against their next opponents Zimbabwe at the Gabba Sunday.
The Tigers have seen both sides of the coin in their first two games at the Twenty20 World Cup as they clinched a narrow win against the Dutch at windy Hobart and later faced a heavy bashing against the Proteas at Sydney Cricket Ground.
After so many experiments in the batting department prior to the world event, the batting unit is finally looking settled as technical consultant Sriram believes they have set the base quite well to become a competitive side in T20Is in coming years.
“I think we are building a side, and I think we've done really well in building the side. The confidence of the boys, they know where they stand in world cricket, and that is reality for them. They know where they stand. They know where they want to go. I think there's absolute clarity, and I think that is the base that we can set in such a short time. I think we've set that base really well,” said Sriram during the pre-match press conference at the Gabba Saturday.
“I think it's up to you what expectations you have, but from a team point of view, we are very clear on the expectations that we have on ourselves. We want to build this side for the future, and I think we've got a good set of boys. We've got the skill sets. If we can add a couple of more skill sets here and there, I think we can build a really good T20 team for the future,” he added.
A lot of discussion has been going on with the opening pairs as experiments have been done to find the right combination.
In the first two games Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar gave a good start but were not able to carry their innings into big ones.
Bangladesh have never played at the Gabba before Sriram said the openers need to cash in on their good starts and turn them into big innings.
“The opening pair looks settled. I think it's good. We got 43 in the first game, we were 26 for no loss in two overs against South Africa,” said the former Indian cricketer.
“I think it's giving them more game time, more experience, and the more they play together, the more they play against different opposition in different conditions, they will learn it's about kicking on, and they will learn that.
“That's what very good players like Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw do. The ones that get a start, they're able to go on and make that impact that we talk about. I think it's a learning process for both Shanto and Soumya, and I think they'll do it.”
Sriram said despite heavy defeat against South Africa the team morale is high and they need to focus on the next game rather than think about the past too much.
“Australia lost to New Zealand and beat Sri Lanka in the next game. That's an example we can take. I think in tournament play there's no place for emotions. I think one day you can have a bad day, you can bounce back the next day really strongly,” he said.
“I think you have to put behind whether you win massively or you lose massively, it's gone. I think you wake up the next day, train, travel and play. I think nothing changes from our side. We still know what our plans are. We still train as hard as we can. So, I think we are ready for the next game.”