Familiar foes, familiar worries

Bangladesh will take on a familiar foe in their third match of the 2022 T20 World Cup as they will face Zimbabwe in Brisbane today.

The two teams are coming into the match in two different moods considering the results of their latest matches.

Bangladesh were thrashed by 104 runs by South Africa, the biggest defeat in their Twenty20 Internationals history. On the other hand, Zimbabwe are yet to be beaten in the Super 12 stage as their first game against the Proteas was washed out before their stunning one-run win over Pakistan.

As the two teams clash with dissimilar moods in the dressing room, Bangladesh have a familiar worry to wander about ahead of the game.

Earlier this year, Bangladesh travelled to Zimbabwe for a three-match T20I series, which they lost 2-1. While skipper Shakib Al Hasan was not available there, the series is still pretty fresh in the memory of the cricketers as many of the current squad were present there.

The Tigers’ overall record against Zimbabwe in the format is not quite heartening as well as they have won eight against the landlocked African side’s seven wins in 18 games.

Bangladesh’s biggest worry will be their batting which brought them only 144 against an ordinary Dutch attack and then crumbled for 101 against South Africa.

And the added worry for them would be their bowling, which after a good performance against Netherlands, ended up being thrashed by Rilee Rossouw and Quinton de Kock.

Such performances often lead teams to lose confidence in themselves, but the technical consultant of Bangladesh, Sridharan Sriram, believes the team is fine mentally.

“I think the morale is very good. We realise South Africa played well on that day. They were very strong,” he said in the pre-match press conference.

Sriram added that they can take inspiration from other teams and that they knew exactly what to do.

“Australia lost to New Zealand and beat Sri Lanka in the next game. What more do you want? That’s an example we can take.

“I think in a tournament, there’s no place for emotions. I think one day you can have a bad day, then you can bounce back the next day really strong, and I think that’s what the boys know. I think you have to put behind whether you win massively or you lose massively, it’s gone. I think you wake up the next day, train, travel and play. I think nothing changes from our side. We still know what our plans are. We still train as hard as we can,” the Indian coach explained.

He also praised the Zimbabweans for their performance against Pakistan and said the Tigers knew their plan for them.

“We definitely have a plan (for Zimbabwe). But I think we respect Zimbabwe for their amazing performance again Pakistan. We watched each and every ball of it, and the way they pulled it off against Pakistan is unbelievable. Full credit to them, respect,” Sriram said.

Bangladesh cannot not win against Zimbabwe if they want to keep their hopes alive for the semi-finals as they only have two points from two games, but the technical consultant of the side implied that they were taking it one match at a time.

“I think we’ll take it one game at a time. We can’t look at the points table. We can’t think too far ahead, nor can we dwell on what happened. I think it’s about staying really calm in the moment, being really clear with our plans, focusing on our execution on that day, taking one game at a time, one ball at a time and small little phases of the game. I think if we win those small little phases, we’ll definitely put on a good show,” he said.

Zimbabwe, who have three points from two matches, are also in a similar spot as a win will push them towards a historic semi-final spot.

“We’ve got a huge chance to make the semis. Again, it requires us to win against Bangladesh and also to beat Netherlands, and then we’ve got our final game against India and depending on some other results. But we can’t look too far ahead right now. I think we’re probably just looking at tomorrow and trying to concentrate on tomorrow’s game and putting in a good performance tomorrow,” Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine said in the pre-match press conference.