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Bangladesh must find an answer to their problem of utilizing the powerplay in order to raise the game as the competition gets tougher in the Super 12 round of the ICC T20 World Cup.
In their first game of the Super 12, the Tigers will take on Sri Lanka, the side which defeated them in the warm-up game prior to the tournament.
In their three matches of the World Cup so far, the highest Bangladesh have managed in the powerplay is 45, which came against the weakest side of their group, Papua New Guinea.
In their matches against Scotland and Oman, Bangladesh could only manage 25 and 29, losing two wickets in both matches.
The horrible start against Scotland led to a six-run defeat for Bangladesh, and in the match against Oman, they could only gather 153.
Bangladesh already lost their warm-up match against Sri Lanka before the World Cup took off, and, in that match, both their openers, Liton Das and Mohammad Naim, failed to play a substantial innings.
And in this match, Bangladesh will need to up their game, and their openers must find them a good start to ensure the Tigers get off to a winning start.
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo also believes that the powerplay will be important in the match in Sharjah.
“Performance in the powerplay is important here. It shows that teams with more runs in the powerplay tend to win more games. I think the first six overs with bat and ball will be important tomorrow,” he said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
Domingo also addressed the problems for Bangladesh till now in the World Cup as the Tigers have had trouble with their death batting.
“Firstly, I think there’s always room for improvement in every department. We know with the bat we haven’t quite clicked at 100 per cent yet. We know there’s a lot of improvement that can take place there, at the start, in the middle and at the death roll inning.
“We’re looking for general order and improvement with the batting. Pretty happy with the way we’ve spotted the ball. And we’ve been pretty good in the field.
“Obviously, we need to assess conditions more because we’re playing under totally different conditions to what we played in Oman. So, it’s also going to be a big challenge for us,” he said.
Bangladesh, due to finishing second in their preliminary stage group, ended up in the Group 1 of the Super 12 stage, where they will be facing the likes of Australia, South Africa, England and West Indies.
Domingo said that they did not mind being in this group and that he believed the Tigers can beat anyone.
“We know anybody can beat anybody, whether you are in this group or the other one. Both groups are equally hard. There’s no advantage or disadvantage for us,” the Bangladesh head coach said.
Bangladesh will also see all their matches start at 2 PM (4 PM BST), and Domingo believes that will help them as they won't have to deal with dew.
“I think the scheduling, the way it’s worked, the 2:00 start suits us big time. It takes dew out of the equation. I know a lot of other teams are very focused on the dew. With us playing all our games at 2:00 is not in the equation for us. I think our spinners will come very much into the competition,” he said.
Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka said that they were thinking especially about Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman.
“The spinners might get more help than seamers in here (Sharjah). We have made good plans for the match, especially regarding Shakib and Mustafiz. We also cannot forget about their other spinners. Hopefully, it will be a good match tomorrow,” Shanaka said.
Against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh have won four out of 11 matches, with the last win coming back in 2018 in the Nidahas Trophy.
Bangladesh reached the final in that tournament. And with another win today, they can get off to a good start on their goal of reaching the semi-finals.
