Bangladesh women’s cricket team openers need to raise their batting if they want to become successful in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, said their coach Janak Gamage on Wednesday.
The opening partnership is found out to be the weakest link in the team as Ayesha Rahman and Sharmin Akter are yet to fire in full cylinders together despite opening together for some time now.
In their five opening stands in the Twenty20 internationals they produced only 73 runs with the highest partnership of 24 runs and it all seemed to put pressure on the duo.
‘Performance of the openers is surely a matter of concern,’ Gamage told New Age on Wednesday.
‘No matter how well you try you need to have some good partnerships up in the order as that lay the platform for a big total.’
Gamage said that their inability to take the advantage of the powerplay is regarded a bit too much for the team to bear as others are advancing forward through taking it.
‘Indian openers showed how to go after the bowlers in the powerplay,’ said Gamage.
‘We need to learn from them and make necessary adjustments.
‘They need to put at least 40 runs in the powerplay so that others can take the game from then onwards,’ he said.
Gamage added that apart from the openers all the three departments need to raise their game if they want to beat the England side.
Bangladesh need to win the match if they want them to have any chance of progressing further in the tournament as a slip up will just make it too difficult for them.
‘We need to perform in all the three departments’, said Gamage.
‘They are a competitive side so unless you are more than it is difficult to win against them.’
Gamage added that they had also altered the responsibility of Salma Khatun in the side and taking her bowling more into consideration than her batting.
‘Certainly earlier she used to bat up in the order but now things are different,’ said Gamage.
‘We consider her more as a bowling all-rounder who bats down the order.
‘It is mainly because she is not very fast running between the wickets unlike some of the young cricketers while her experience as a bowler are recognised as more valuable to the team,’ he said.
-With New Age input
