Bangladesh cricket team coach Chandika Hathurusinghe on Wednesday insisted that the players should not make too many plans ahead of their Twenty20 assignments and rather concentrate on playing to their strength. Hathurusinghe, who arrived on Tuesday, joined Tigers preparation for the forthcoming Twenty20 internationals and immediately paid his attention on some of the players who are not in the squad for the Zimbabwe series.
Hathurusinghe had a long session with four discarded pace bowlers — Kamrul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Shahid and Abul Hasan and asked them to keep working on their skills that proved to be effective in the Bangladesh Premier League.
Abul Hasan said that the meeting was highly encouraging as it gave them the impression that they are not totally out of team management’s radar ahead of forthcoming international T20 commitments.
‘Coach [Hathurusinghe] told us to play according to our strength,’ Hasan told New Age on Wednesday.
‘We have played in the BPL and received substantial amount of experiences to know what works for us and what doesn’t. We just need to apply those things that have already given us success,’ he said.
‘My slower deliveries are quite useful. It’s better to learn how to get the maximum from it rather trying too many things,’ he added.
Taskin was advised to get more control over his yorkers as that is thought to be the best option for the bowlers in the shortest format of the game.
‘You are expected to get the best result when you have total control over your stock deliveries,’ said Taskin.
‘Naturally there should be variations but at the same time you need to have full-fledged control over your stock balls,’ he said.
While Shahid was admired for his ability to bowl at the same place and asked to have more control over his line and length, Kamrul was asked to have the courage intact as he did not feature in the BPL due to injury.
Pace bowler Abu Hider said that the same instruction was given to him as well during the training session.
‘I cannot change a lot of things in this short span,’ said Hider.
‘So, it’s better to get the most from what I have.
‘T20 cricket is not about trying too many things rather get the maximum from your stock through intelligent application. It’s the message the coach wanted to convey towards us.’
The Tigers are scheduled to play four-match Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe, starting from January 15 at Khulna to prepare them for the inaugural edition of Asia CupT20 and ICC World Twenty20 tournament.
-With New Age input
