Mahmudullah Riyad is usually a man of few words, but the newly-appointed vice-captain of the Tigers makes his point precisely. Despite the West Indies having the ICC Emerging Player of the Year, Devender Bishoo, as their leading spinner, the Tigers are concerned of the opposition pace attack.
Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul and Carlos Brathwaite make up the main pace attack with skipper Darren Sammy and Andre Russell providing the seaming variety. Despite so many options, Sammy also has the twin leg-spin threat of Bishoo and Anthony Marin up his sleeve.
“There are no special plans for (Devendra) Bishoo,” said Riyad after training at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
“They have a good pace bowling attack, so if our openers can get off to a good start, then that momentum will carry over to the middle order and hopefully we can post a competitive total.”
Riyad was however brimming with confidence ahead of the series against the West Indies even after their horror show in their last encounter in the World Cup.
“If we look at things from a more positive perspective then you can see that we defeated the West Indies in the first Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa and they were a much stronger team back then. So I believe that if we play to our potential then we can manage a positive result,” he said.
The West Indies side is one that has many new faces with key players such as Chris Gayle missing, something that Riyad was taking as an advantage to the Tigers.
“Gayle is an explosive batsman and his exclusion is a positive, but we are not worried about him. We are more focused on performing well,” he said.
Riyad had been a key performer in the last series against West Indies where he scored a match winning half-century to take the Tigers to their first Test series win away from home.
“I expect to bat in No 5-7 and if the teams needs then I’m willing to bat anywhere else in the order,” added Riyad.
With the single Twenty20 match coming up against the West Indies first, here is where he believes the Tigers’ weaknesses lies in the game’s shortest format, and what they need to do.
“Possibly power hitting is our weakness in T20s but more importantly, I believe that getting off to the good start, whether with the bat and or ball, is more important.
“The momentum from that can be carried on and hopefully give us a positive result,” said Riyad.
-With The Daily Star input
