Bangladesh have seen significant improvements in one-day internationals in the recent past. The side have also made notable developments in Tests but in the shortest format of the game, Twenty20s, the Tigers have struggled.
Since 2006, Bangladesh have played 50 T20 internationals, losing the majority of the games and winning only 15 times. They have mostly been successful against Zimbabwe, winning five out of nine matches. However, against today’s Asia Cup T20 opposition India, Bangladesh have played two T20Is, losing both.
Bangladesh’s T20 captain for the Asia Cup and the upcoming World T20, Mashrafe bin Mortaza, though is not concerned of the track record, as he said, “It is true that T20 is not our forte but one has to understand that we cannot always think of this. That way, we will not be able to improve.
“What we are trying right now is not think of the matches we have lost in this format. We had done the same in one-day internationals and I think it helped us. I believe forgetting all the bad memories of T20s will help us to progress in this format as a team. We might get the result right away or it might take some time as well,” the right-arm paceman added in yesterday’s pre-tournament press conference.
Bangladesh in the last month practised as a team in phases. Following their four-match T20I series against Zimbabwe in January, the Tigers stayed back in Khulna for the first phase of training. Later, they moved to Chittagong for the second phase and Mashrafe informed the media that during this time, the team tried to rectify their weak points. According to Mashrafe, the hard work has been done and now it is time to reap the rewards.
Besides Bangladesh’s performance in T20s, the other talk of the town is how Bangladesh pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman will be dealt with by India. The 20-year-old left-arm pacer was the chief architect behind India’s humiliating defeat against the Tigers in the ODI series last year.
Mustafizur scripted a dream debut, picking up 11 wickets in the first two matches.
During the course of last year, Mustafizur made many more appearances and as it happens to an international bowler, the opponents had the opportunity of studying his action down to the minutest of details. There is also concerns as to whether Mustafizur will be able to continue his magic against a strong Indian batting line-up. However, Mashrafe said, “One advantage is, I do not think he knows much of all the discussions surrounding him. Even if he knows, I believe he will not think much of it. He does not put extra pressure upon himself, if you ask me. He is not a person to take pressure. It is true that it will be a challenge for him to perform against Indian batsmen, more so because it is T20. I think the others (bowlers) have to contribute and not solely depend upon one person just because he did well last time around.
“I always say Mustafizur is special and others cannot do what he does but [today] I think everyone should step up and put up a team performance.”
