Home ›› 17 Oct 2022 ›› Sport
While their first match in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia is still a week away, Bangladesh’s unofficial start to the global event will start today with their warm-up match against Afghanistan.
Then, they will face South Africa on Monday, before their first official match on October 24 against one of the teams qualified from the preliminary stage.
Ahead of that, Bangladesh cricketers started training in Brisbane, where they will play both warm-up games, on Sunday.
Despite the World Cup literally knocking at the door, Bangladesh still have a lot to figure out, which they could not do in their tri-series in New Zealand against the hosts and Pakistan.
The first thing is their opening partnership. They have finally got rid of their makeshift opening policy and picked Soumya Sarkar, a regular opener, for their T20 World Cup squad.
And Bangladesh team’s technical consultant Sridharan Sriram spent a lot of time in the nets of Brisbane on Sunday to help Soumya fix and better his technique, meaning he, at least for now, is chosen for the opening role.
But while proper openers have been brought in for the opening, questions regarding whether Bangladesh batters will be able to post high-end totals game in and game out.
Bangladesh batting coach Jamie Siddons though believes that the Tigers will not need to score 200+ every match to win games in Australia.
“We are not worried about scoring 200. If we can score 160-170 regularly, with our bowling attack, we will win more than losing. I don’t think it’s necessary to score 200 here,” Siddons said.
He added, “Scoring 200 won’t be necessary at the World Cup. 170-180 would be ideal. If we can score 170, I will be very happy. That would be enough for our bowling attack.”
The bowling attack is also a question for Bangladesh as they brought in a last-minute change by picking Shoriful Islam and dropping Mohammad Saif Uddin.
The change was predictable following Saif’s ugly run of form since returning from injury in all of the Asia Cup, the series against UAE, and the tri-series.
While Shoriful has not shown signs of great form either, his left-arm pace provides a variation and his height might prove to be a handy weapon in the bouncy tracks of Australia.
Bangladesh did light training on Sunday as they arrived from New Zealand there the last night, but they cannot ponder anymore as they have no time left.
“We didn’t want to work them too much today as they had a long flight last night. I worked specifically on the skills in the nets. There were skill sessions with the batters,” Siddons said.
But they will need to find the next gear soon. Within a week.
