Tamim: We need to play a Bangladesh brand for T20I success

Bangladesh's historic five-wicket win over host Sri Lanka in the Nidahas T20I tri-nation series Saturday at R Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo made the cricket arena stand up and take notice. The Tigers, who do not have the experience of scoring 200 runs in the shortest format of the game, pulled off a successful chase of 215 losing five wickets with two balls to spare. The cliffhanger saw Bangladesh register a host of records, including their highest successful chase in the format, fourth highest successful chase by any team in all time T20Is and the highest by any team on Sri Lankan soil, to name but a few. The win had come riding on a brilliant effort from the batsmen after Bangladesh bowlers were smashed on a flat batting track at the R Premadasa. The Tigers are being praised for the fashion in which the batsmen executed a magnificent chase, having come into the game demoralised after a series of recent lows, and that too against a confident Sri Lanka at home backed by some 30,000 fans.

Tamim Iqbal departs after playing a magnificent innings of 47 runs with 6 fours and 1 six. #SLvBAN pic.twitter.com/BsshfV0Z2Z

— bdcrictime.com (@BDCricTime) March 10, 2018

Openers Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das, who was promoted to open in place of the regular Soumya Sarkar, had laid the foundation with a record 74-run stand, and produced Bangladesh's second highest powerplay score. In the middle overs, Soumya played the anchoring role, scoring 24 off 22 deliveries, while wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim left the ground limping but as a hero following his unbeaten 35-ball 72, involving five boundaries and four over boundaries. Such a performance by a side which have won just two games in the last 10 attempts, and 22 in the 73 total matches played in the format till date has amazed many. Bangladesh in the past few years have made significant improvements in ODIs and Test matches but lagged behind in the shortest format. However, the win can against Sri Lanka Saturday can be the catalyst for the Tigers, who have desperately been trying to better themselves in the format - more so with the 2020 World T20 coming ahead.

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Also read: It is one of our best wins, says Tamim

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According to Tamim, Bangladesh do not have the luxury of calling on a big-hitting batsman when the going gets tough. Rather, the Tigers have the only option of playing their own "brand of cricket" to make a mark in this format. Tamim believes the way Bangladesh recorded their historic win can show the way in future. "I believe it is one format we can improve a lot. We might not have big power-hitters but we can plan and play a Bangladeshi brand of T20I cricket. We can't follow England or the West Indies because we have different kind of players," said Tamim to the media Saturday. "We don't have someone like MS Dhoni to come in at No 7. We don't have a Chris Gayle to take on the bowlers from the first ball. I think we have smart cricketers, who are different. It is not about hitting sixes and fours all the time. In the middle overs we saw that by taking a lot of singles, boundaries will come. This will definitely give us a lot of confidence. It is not the end, but just the start," the left-handed batsman added. Following a breather for a couple of days, the Tigers will face India at the same venue Wednesday.