The six-wicket win over ICC Associates Scotland on Thursday hardly overshadowed the bowling deficiency Bangladesh possessed. The Bangladesh think tank has finally realised that spinners are more crucial in their path to move forward.
Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan yesterday spoke of including specialist spinners against England.
Over the last decade Bangladesh slowly developed spin as their major weapon and it was a real surprise not to see specialist left-armers like Taijul Islam and Arafat Sunny in the first half of the World Cup.
Nazmul, who is now in Nelson with the team, said: “We need a specialist bowler and most probably they will pick an additional spinner against England. But it can be different in the game against New Zealand where we can go with eight batsmen.
“What we heard before coming here [Australia-New Zealand] is that the wickets will be bouncy with a lot of swing and we will not be able to bat in these sorts of conditions and it will be tough for us. But so far we have not seen anything like that.”
Playing eight batsmen was the need of the hour as, Nazmul said, most of the top order batsmen were not in good knick.
“The openers were not getting runs but Tamim’s [Iqbal] returning to form in the last match is a good sign. Before that we were not getting runs from the top order. The pressure is on Mushfiq[ur Rahim] and Shakib [al Hasan] if we lose a couple of early wickets as we do not have enough batsmen after
them. So, they [captain and coach] asked for an extra batsman in the side and that is one reason why we picked eight batsmen,” Nazmul said.
Bangladesh took their flight back to Australia and reached Adelaide yesterday for their match against England on Monday, which, if they can win, will assure them a last-eight place in the mega event.
Left-hander Imrul Kayes joined the Tigers in place of Anamul Haque whose World Cup ended following a shoulder dislocation while fielding in their last game. Anamul, however, is still with the Bangladesh team and will be assessed further before he is sent back.