Mahmud wants players to play with freedom

Bangladesh have been lagging behind other teams in terms of bravery of execution on the field and lack of freedom, a team official said on Wednesday.

Bangladesh had a horrid Asia Cup campaign as they were knocked out of the group stage, and they only have four matches in the tri-nation series in New Zealand before the T20 World Cup in Australia.

Bangladesh Cricket Board is likely to announce the squads for that tri-nation series and the World Cup on any day between September 12 to 15.

But what Bangladesh direly need is better performances, a hint of which was there in their match against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup. Team director of the national side, Khaled Mahmud, believes the ability is there, but not the freedom.

“We limit ourselves. I want to take away that barrier and allow them to play with freedom. We are losing out in terms of bravery. Small changes are being made in terms of mentality. If the process is right and we can be patient, Bangladesh can be a strong side in this format too,” Mahmud told the media on Wednesday.

Ahead of the tri-nation series against New Zealand and Pakistan and the World Cup, Bangladesh will start a camp on September 12, where there will be training based on the roles of the players.

“Our camp will be from September 12 to 14. There will be scenario training, and training on specific roles. We will call up 30-31 players. Middle-order batsmen will train to hit boundaries off pacers. We could not defend 183, which was heartbreaking. So, we will also see how the bowlers do at the death. We will focus more on batting and pace bowling,” Mahmud said.