Bangladesh signed off what is likely to be their last international engagement before next year’s World Cup with a comprehensive series win over Zimbabwe, even as coach Jamie Siddons expressed his desire for more international cricket ahead of the cricket’s showpiece event.
As expected Shakib Al Hasan’s men won the series, 3-1, against the bottom-ranked Zimbabwe after a first match hiccup but there are still some areas the coach will try to rectify during the upcoming Premier Division Cricket League as the focus shifts to the domestic circuit.
But even before the fine-tuning begins, the one thing the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) must resolve as soon as possible is decide on the captain for the showcase event which will be co-hosted by Bangladesh along with India and Sri Lanka.
The BCB’s manner of handling over the captaincy to Shakib Al Hasan for the Zimbabwe series was thoroughly unprofessional; it brought nothing good and instead created an unnecessary imbalance in the team, the net result of which was a nine-run defeat in the first game.
So, the expectation is that the game’s governing body will not dilly-dally over the captaincy issue this time. The most important thing is that the captain has to have his opinion while picking the squad. The authority must understand that the captain ultimately calls the shots out on the field and hence needs to be comfortable with the players at his disposal. And it is not only for on-the-field role, but also off-the field that a captain plays a vital role.
From Siddons’s point of view, it was however nice for the Australian to see his team winning the series quite comfortably despite an embarrassing loss in the first game and the abandonment of the fourth game due to a wet field in Chittagong. Nothing could be better than going into an event like the World Cup on the back of a winning run.
Many believed that Bangladesh’s success in the 2007 World Cup in West Indies had ensued because they went into the mega event on the back of winning a number of matches, regardless that it was against lowly opponents.
So this time it was encouraging that the
Tigers are going to play the 2011 World Cup with stupendous 4-0 series victory against New Zealand and 3-1 against the Africans behind them.
Captain Shakib was his usual swashbuckling self both with bat and ball while left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak was simply outstanding, nabbing 13 wickets in four games. But the most refreshing fact for the team think-tank was the return of pace spearhead Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.
The ‘Narail Express’ was ordinary in his bowling in the first two games but he got back his rhythm in the last two games, which definitely comforted the team management ahead of the World Cup because Bangladesh cannot rely on spin alone when they play against a team like India.
The Bangladesh top-order strength centres on dashing left-hander Tamim Iqbal and the Chittagonian proved that his injury could hardly weigh down his batting.
But the problem remains with the middle-order and the lack of power in the batting Powerplay. It was nice to see Junaed Siddiqui getting back among the runs but his strike rate of 53.30 is really a cause for concern because the things will be totally different when Bangladesh play against their higher ranked opponents.
The selectors also seemed to have a plan with Mohammad Ashraful but it didn’t click as the right-hander made a foolish error in the first game only to stay in the dressing room for the rest of the series.
Shakib had said that they had enough back-up players but unfortunately there was little chance to glimpse them in the just concluded series against Zimbabwe.
So, they now have to focus on the domestic competition to find the perfect balance before Bangladesh’s biggest test in their young career.
