Without any doubt the historic series victory against New Zealand pleased Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons the most. Nothing could have been better for a mentor than gaining from this stupendous success before the World Cup campaign. But in no way the team think-tank can be complacent with the success because there are still some areas they must focus on to keep the momentum going.
Refreshingly, Siddons and captain Shakib Al Hasan have highlighted the flaws during and immediately after the 4-0 whitewash of New Zealand. And the first priority should be to look into the batting, which had not been as impressive as it should have been, especially in home conditions. The batting has been the main headache of the team for many years but under the tutelage of the Australian it has significantly improved, with the 30-plus averages of some top-order batsmen being an indication of improvement.
But unfortunately the batting was not satisfactory in the successful series where the bowlers exploited the conditions brilliantly and was aided by an improved fielding display that ended up stunning world cricket.
In reality, the extraordinary one-man show from Shakib made up for the ordinary batting. Except Shakib no one was consistent in the series with the bat and most importantly many failed to capitalise on good starts. The batting of Junaed Siddiqui and Rokibul Hasan was really a cause for concern and what the team also desperately missed was the thrust from the late-order, a significant reason behind the team’s failure to cross the 250-mark in a single match of the series. In addition, the failure to fully utilise the Powerplay is an area Siddons must concentrate on before the Zimbabwe series and the World Cup.
In present-day cricket, big-hitting ability is a must for any batsman in the limited-overs format and that was the reason Siddons had a special training during the practice sessions before the series but there was no execution of it in the middle.
Former national captain and chief selector Faruque Ahmed also believes that the team management must work hard on batting before the World Cup because it will not be easy to win matches against top oppositions with this performance. Former skipper Habibul Bashar also echoed Faruque’s sentiment.
“Definitely there were less flaws in the series and that’s why we won it by 4-0 margin. But I must say that the bowlers helped the team to secure this historic success. I think the batting should get much better if we want to continue doing well against big teams,” opined Faruque.
“You can’t always win matches scoring less than 250 runs. In the slow and low pitches it was not easy to play cut and pull shots but still I believe 250 was possible in every match. Except Shakib, nobody was consistent and most importantly the top-order failed to capitalise on the starts,” he added.
He also suggested that it would be unwise to write off players like Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed and Alok Kapali when middle-order has been struggling.
“It always puts pressure on the team after the way Rokibul batted in the middle. I am not against a slow start but one should not get out after making 15 odd runs facing 40-50 balls.
“The team management must think about Rokibul before the World Cup,” said Faruque.
Bashar also thought that the team had to make some adjustments before the World Cup. “The batting was not satisfactory in the series. Actually Shakib’s extraordinary performance played a big role. I’m against any major changes in the team when the boys are winning the matches, but in my opinion some adjustments are needed in batting line-up. People should be open-minded when it comes to making changes,” advised Bashar.
“The middle-order really looked vulnerable if you put aside the performance of Shakib and the lower-order also looked to be out of sorts. So we must focus on these areas. Batsmen didn’t look off-form but they failed to make big scores. It’s not good to see one batsman getting out after making 20 runs,” he added.
Both the former captains believed that the batsmen could take the opportunity to improve during the National Cricket League’s one-day competition that begins tomorrow.
