Bangladesh will not feel shy of making some experiments in forthcoming Twenty20 international series against Zimbabwe as the series is all about finding the right combinations, said coach Chandika Hathurusinghe. The Tigers have a settled unit in one-day international cricket but they are still searching for an answer about how to deal with Twenty20s, a format once believed tailor-made for them only to be found opposite.
‘In terms of combinations, we will try to do different ones,’ Hathurusinghe described his motto before the series on Wednesday. ‘We still want to win but we will experiment in terms of combinations.
‘We have settled line-up in ODIs but in T20s I don’t think we have our combination or game-plan understood. It is the biggest challenge, especially in batting,’ said Hathurusinghe.
Bangladesh made five changes in the squad from their previous Twenty20 series as rookie Abu Hider and Nurul Hasan have been included alongside Shuvagata Hom, who played seven Tests and four ODIs but is yet to play any Twenty20 International.
Vice-captain Sakib al Hasan and batsman Soumya Sarkar returned after a brief international break, respectively for a family reason and injury.
Hathurusinghe said it will not be a problem for the side to accommodate Sakib and Soumya in the squad and insisted that the others will also get their chance at some stage during the series.
‘Sakib and Soumya are world-class players so they are both in the team,’ said Hathurusinghe.
‘The new players are in the team on merit. They have done well in the recently concluded BPL [Bangladesh Premier League] and the ‘A’ team tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa.
‘Nurul is there for his explosive batting and everyone thinks highly of his wicketkeeping as well,’ said Hathurusinghe, who also praised other newcomer Shuvagata.
‘His strike-rate was very high,’ Hathurusinghe said of Shuvagata’s performance in BPL where he made just 94 runs in total with a strike rate of 142.42.
‘If someone comes to bat at No 7 or 8, you don’t expect to bat 60 balls in T20 cricket,’ he said.
‘You expect to bat 10-15 balls if the other batters are doing the right thing.
‘This will be his role and he adds value on the field as well and can bowl few overs. He will get chance in this series to prove his worth,’ said Hathurusinghe.
The coach however was reluctant to drop any hints about Bangladesh’s batting order, which is still unsettled. Batsman Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim preferred to bat up in the order while the team also got success with Sakib at one-down.
Sabbir Rahman showed he has all the ingredients to be successful batting at number three or four in the BPL that gave the team management ample food for thought.
‘I don’t want to talk about batting positions here because everyone will get chance to be comfortable in certain places we have spoken about,’ said Hathurusinghe.
-With New Age input
