'Power failure' in cricket

The rising price of fuel due to Ukraine war has enforced the Electricity distribution companies of Bangladesh to manage the demand by load-shedding which is creating power failure in several areas.

On the contrary, Bangladesh cricket team is also suffering from “Power Failure “as they lack powerful hitters in the team which is creating a big difference on the field, said Liton Kumar Das after the Tigers succumbed to another defeat to West Indies in the third Twenty20 International of the series at Guyana on Thursday.

At Providence Stadium, the match started 30 minutes late due to a wet outfield caused by rain but eventually, the weather allowed the rest of the affairs smoothly.

Mahmudullah won the toss, elected to bat and Bangladesh put on an average total of 163-5 in 20 overs.

Afif Hossain reached 50, Liton missed half-century by one run; Hayden Walsh took two wickets.

In reply, West Indies reached the target with five wickets in hand and 10 balls to spare. Nicholas Pooran hit a career-best 74* from 39 balls where he hit five boundaries and an equal number of sixes.

Kyle Mayers scored 55 runs of 38 balls, he also hit two boundaries and five sixes.

In the entire Bangladesh inning, the batsmen managed only five sixes whereas their Caribbean counterparts managed 11.

Liton believes that the six-hitting ability of the West Indian batsmen has made a big difference,

“Many say that T20 is all about technique and skill but I think power hitting is also very important. We are far behind in this aspect”, the batsman said after the match in Guyana.

“We must give credit to West Indies, especially for the way they batted. They have hit even the good deliveries. They have an added advantage of playing power cricket which we can’t. I think it also keeps the bowler at the edge because with the slightest of deviation they get hit by the batsmen”, added Liton who missed half-century by one run.

A few days ago, the batting coach of the Bangladesh team Jamie Siddons told the media about the physical differences between the cricketers of Bangladesh and Australia or England.

Liton also echoed Siddons and said, “Ethnically they are very strong and well built which we are not. They can hit a big six whenever they want to which many of us are not capable of. Most of the time we think about hitting fours but they always go for the six. This makes a big difference” he said after the match.

The proof is prominent in the scorecard of the match, Bangladesh hit 11 fours while West Indies hit only nine.

“In T20, we are way behind from the top teams, we have to work hard to close the gap. By training hard and playing more matches we can overcome this flaw. In the World Cup (ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia) the grounds will be bigger and if we don’t improve it will make us suffer”, admitted Liton.