It was a remarkable 2015 for Bangladesh which makes the defeat to Zimbabwe yesterday more acceptable to Tigers coach Chandika Hathurusingha. The Tigers dominated throughout the year at home soil and despite the three-wicket defeat to the visitors in the Twenty20 international yesterday, Hathurusingha thinks it is nothing compared to the success.
Bangladesh won five one-day international bilateral series at a stretch, a tough task for even the leading teams in the world. “I think this is arguably the best year that Bangladesh had after achieving the Test status (in 2000) and arguably the best team we have had. I am very happy with the progress of the players. Winning five series in a row is not easy, because you tend to have a bad game down the line but we were very consistent and that’s got to do with their mental ability to concentrate and come back and train hard,” said Chandika to the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Bangladesh have come a long way in the ODIs and have also made notable progress in Tests, but when it comes to Twenty20Is the Tigers still lag far behind.
Be it their approach with the bat or ball, they have always struggled in the shortest format and yesterday was no exception.
Bangladesh struggled with the willow after opting to bat first and could gather only 135 runs while with the ball, skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza’s gamble of not keeping a specialist bowler at the end of the Zimbabwe chase cost heavily. As a result Zimbabwe picked their lone win in the tour slating occasional spinner Nasir Hossain for 18 runs in the last over.
“I think we still need to find our best approach and best combination. We are still developing in the Twenty20 cricket so in that sense I think we have to probably a long way to go to be consistent.
“As a batting unit we need to find our best approach individually. Individual players should understand how to build Twenty20 innings I don’t think we can find our way out. The next two months we need to do a lot of work on approach and the mental approach the skill is there I think we cant win ODI matches if we don’t have skills. It is all about the approach,” said the former Sri Lanka cricketer.
Mashrafe disappointed with loss
“I think 150 would have been a good total to defend as the wicket was difficult for stroke-making. But still, I think our batsmen should have batted more sensibly. And I think our bowlers did a pretty good job in both the T20 games,” Mashrafe told the media after the game.
The Narail Express however, believes dashing opener Soumya Sarkar and maverick all-rounder Shakib al Hasan’s return to the side will make them a stronger unit.
“We have finished a memorable year in 2015 where we have displayed some brilliant cricket. I hope we can continue our good run and display better cricket in 2016,” he added.
