Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons sees a solution to batting Powerplay woes in Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim after their performances in the recently-concluded first phase of the Dhaka Premier League.
Mushfique and Mahmudullah were in terrific form in the league making 576 runs (in 10 innings at 72) and 376 runs (in 10 innings at 62.67) respectively, playing for Bangladesh Biman and Abahani.
In most cases they used the batting Powerplay intelligently which gave Siddons a great hope. Bangladesh were unable to use the Powerplay in most of their recent matches which often made the difference with their opponents.
They tend to lose too many wickets in batting Powerplay, which often force them to wait until the last five overs to take it. In some cases they did not have any recognised batsman left at the crease to take the advantage.
‘We have to be a little smarter in the Powerplay and being consistent in the Premier League, Mahmudullah and Mushfique showed a good sign for us. I think they can be useful in the Powerplay,’ Siddons told reporters at the indoor stadium on Thursday.
‘We have had the same roles for everyone. I want to let them take off the shackles and let’s see what they can do to it,’ said Siddons.
He also gave importance to practice instead of playing any matches at this stage as it will give his players more time to play their natural shots.
‘If we play a match and for instance Tamim got out in the first ball then he is done for the whole day without having any practice. So I think it’s better that we work hard in the practice sessions than playing a match as it will allow them to have more time in the nets. If we had any international team then we could have played but I am not interested in playing with any Bangladeshi team,’ said Siddons.
‘We will have practice under lights tomorrow [Friday] which will be pretty exciting seeing the lights work and functioning. We had a lot of cricket in the premier league and before that with Zimbabwe,’ said Siddons.
He was also excited about the prospect of him playing a role in a World Cup.
‘I am just excited to get the boys into training. World Cup is coming pretty quick and I am pretty excited with having another chance,’ said Siddons.
