Bangladesh cricket team has been eliminated from the Asia Cup 2023 after they lost their first two Super 4s games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They did win the last game against India before the Asia Cup 2023 final, but Shakib al Hasan, a regular Bangladeshi captain is concerned about his team’s batting performances. Shakib al Hasan pointed out dismal batting performances in the recent series and tournaments. Today, we will talk about what Shakib has said about the team’s batting concerns in detail. So let’s start.
Bangladesh’s Batting – A worry for the team before the World Cup
Bangladesh cricket team’s batting performances over the last 6 to 8 months haven’t been up to the mark. They have to look into this matter quickly as the all-important ICC ODI World Cup 2023 is just around the corner.
Especially on those kinds of pitches, where the spinners get more help and the ball might stop and not come onto the bat easily. They haven’t done well during the Asia Cup 2023 where they played on those tricky wickets in Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh’s batting performances recently
In the Asia Cup 2023’s first game, they bowled out for just 163 against Sri Lanka. Against Pakistan, they bowled out for just 193 runs. And when they met Sri Lanka again in the Super 4s, they got again exposed to the Lankan spinners.
Against India as well, the lower-order batters helped the team to put on a decent total on the board. In the series against Afghanistan and England, Bangladesh’s batting wasn’t up to the mark.
What did Shakib al Hasan said?
Bangladesh’s skipper, Shakib al Hasan pointed out the concerns regarding the team’s batting performances. He said it is a good reality check before the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
“It’s been declining for the last six months (in ODIs) since England and Afghanistan series, and now this Asia Cup tournament, and we need to improve our batting,” Shakib al Hasan said after Sri Lanka’s game.
“The batting is something that concerns us. We need to work on those areas so we can rectify them. This tournament before the World Cup will be beneficial. We need to keep our heads in the game,” he said.
Shakib on Bangladesh’s progress over the years
Shakib al Hasan also talks about how Bangladesh has progressed over the years. He talks about the wins Bangladesh has achieved in the last few ICC ODI WCs.
In bilateral series, we always perform well, and we cannot be said to be a bad team, but in these types of tournaments, we don’t show extraordinary performance. The World Cup won three matches in 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019, so people can say a lot about us, but when we look at the facts, we usually don’t succeed. Everyone should think about how to solve this problem after the tournament because it was played before the World Cup. Then, we can move forward.
On Bangladesh’s trophy drought
Shakib al Hasan also talks about not winning the multi-national tournaments. Although Bangladesh have managed to be in the two Asia Cup finals in the last few years, they didn’t cross the line.
Despite playing in two or three finals of Asia Cup, we have no history since we have not succeeded (in big tournaments), but we are still a promising team,” he explained.
Bangladesh’s injury woes and the experiments in the batting lineup
Bangladesh cricket team missed the services of some of their main batters during the Asia Cup 2023. Tamim Iqbal hasn’t played the whole tournament. Litton Das also came in after an injury layoff during the middle of the tournament. And their best batter during the tournament, Najmul Hossain Shanto also ruled out with injury after two games.
The team tried Mehidy Hasan Miraz at the top. And he has scored a century as well. Shakib al Hasan told the reporters about the Miraz’s experiment as well.
As a solid batsman, Mehedy Miraz must take responsibility for his performances. The century he scored against Afghanistan is not a fluke, but at the same time, he can also be used at seven, giving us depth,” Shakib said. “He has good technique and we can use him (at the top) against some teams.
Naim’s low scores after starts
Shakib al Hasan also talks about Naim’s inability to convert a start into big scores. Naim got a few starts during the tournament, but he didn’t convert it into a big score.
Chance for Bangladesh to rectify during the New Zealand series
Now, Bangladesh will play a 3-match ODI series against New Zealand before the WC. It will be a good opportunity to resolve the batting worries in this series where some of their main players will get rest.
Bangladesh will start its WC campaign against Afghanistan on October 07 at Dharamsala.
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