Batting and fielding woes continue

In the first match of their preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, Bangladesh managed to barely beat the United Arab Emirates as the Tigers managed a win by seven runs in Dubai on Sunday.

But the worrying thing for Bangladesh was that their woes with the bat and on the field continued as their top-order failed, and they dropped two easy chances on the field.

While Afif Hossain managed his career-best score as he scored an unbeaten 77, hitting seven fours and three sixes, all the other batsmen in the top six faltered.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 12 off 14 deliveries, while Sabbir Rahman went for a duck wasting three balls. Liton Das showed intent but too much of it to get out on 13 from eight deliveries, while Yasir Ali Chowdhury could only manage four from seven. Mosaddek Hossain played eight balls to score just three. These five batsmen played 40 balls but only managed 32 runs.

Only skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan could offer Afif some assistance as the left-handed batsmen, surviving a couple of scares, managed to take Bangladesh to 158-5.

In their bowling innings, while Afif and Mehidy showed some sparks of brilliance on the field, overall, Bangladesh were lacklustre. In the 18th over, Mosaddek Hossain dropped Aayan Afzal Khan in the boundary, while Mohammad Saif Uddin, along with his ghastly bowling performance, dropped a dolly in the final over.

But Shoriful Islam kept his cool to ensure that those did not cost them dear and ensured a seven-run win.

Ahead of the second match, Bangladesh all-rounder Mehidy said they wanted to fix those mistakes.

“We came here to prepare well for the World Cup. We are trying to rectify our mistakes and will try to do so in the next match,” he said on Monday.

The player of the match, Afif, hinted that they might field a different combination in the second T20I on Monday.

“We try to field our best combination in every match. Someday it works, someday it doesn’t. We won the match, it feels good. And whatever combination we play the next day, we will try to do our best,” he said.

Afif added that they were implementing a new pro-active style.

“Our game plan is that even if we lose wickets, we will try to rotate the strike and hit boundaries. We tried that, and by the end, I think our score was okay considering the wicket,” the 23-year-old said.