Home ›› 26 Jul 2022 ›› Sport
Even if Bangladesh lose their upcoming three-match Twenty20 International series 3-0 to Zimbabwe, it won’t upset him, said Bangladesh Cricket Board director and the Tigers’ team director, Khaled Mahmud.
BCB picked a 15-man squad for the Zimbabwe series without Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim, while Shakib Al Hasan had previously agreed with the board that he would not play in this series.
Mahmud said that T20 was the only format where they could test new players, and that results were secondary.
“We can only try out new players in T20Is. I won’t be even a bit upset if we lose 3-0 in Zimbabwe. Because I don’t want to put this pressure on them. I want them to play with freedom. What is important is how their body language is, and whether we can play T20 cricket like it is needed to,” he told the media on Monday.
Mahmud said that it was a chance for the young players like Afif Hossain and Munim Shahriar to play in their place and show their mettle.
“We need to give young players time. We need to turn it around at some point. I won’t say that the time for change is now. The senior players are still able. Our job is to give proper opportunities to junior players,” he said.
He also said that the whole team needed to play fearless cricket, something which newly-appointed captain Nurul Hasan Sohan also emphasised earlier.
“We are not doing well in T20s, and it’s time to try something different in this format. Now, you can’t just change everything in a day. One thing you can do is play with freedom. If you can score 150 regularly, you can win with good bowling and fielding. But it has become difficult for us to even score that.
“We want our players to understand that only 2-3 players playing fearless cricket won’t matter. The whole team has to do that. Many say we can’t hit sixes. I don’t believe it, many of our players can hit big sixes. It’s not a game of hitting sixes, it’s about intelligence. And courage, you can do nothing without courage,” the former Bangladesh captain said.
