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Tigers unwilling to give up aggressive intent

Staff Correspondent
01 Apr 2023 00:00:00 | Update: 31 Mar 2023 22:46:24
Tigers unwilling to give up aggressive intent
Bangladesh’s Shamim Hossain plays a shot during the third T20I against Ireland in Chattogram on Friday – AFP Photo

Since the Twenty20 Internationals series against England earlier this month, the Bangladesh cricket team have gone for a different approach to the format by adopting a very aggressive intent where scoring runs remain the priority regardless of the situation.

That worked well against England and then it worked wonders in the first two T20Is against Ireland.

However, on Friday, the downside of that was on full display as the batting order crumbled and the Tigers could only muster 124.

In the first two matches, the openers – Liton Das and Rony Talukdar – brought Bangladesh brilliant starts which allowed them to score big. In the last match, Liton fell early, and so did Rony. Adding to that, they lost Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shakib Al Hasan within the powerplay.

Despite that, Bangladesh kept attacking, which saw the departures of Towhid Hridoy and Taskin Ahmed within the first 10 overs, meaning Shamim Hossain, who hit a fifty, was left all alone in the final half of the innings, thus resulting in a small total that they eventually could not defend.

This attempt of aggression, which seemed like aimless hitting on Friday rather than the destructive batting in the other two matches, might draw some criticism. However, this method, which has now been made mainstream by England, has this specific downside but the positives outweigh the potential casualties.

The manner in which Bangladesh batted in the first two matches was unforeseen in the cricket culture of the country but it was a positive shift.

And the good thing probably was in Taskin Ahmed’s words afterwards as they had no remorse in the mishap.

“Everyone’s mindset was to be positive. To hit the ball if it was in the zone. Those who have gotten out through mishits, would have hit a six if it hit the middle of the bat. It’s okay. It can happen,” he said.

The pacer added that they will not back down from where they are.

“This intent will help us. There might be a collapse someday. But I don’t think we will change our intensity. According to the thought process of our team, we will play aggressive cricket in the future in both batting and bowling. The management has asked us to be fearless.

“Of course, we don’t like to lose. But even if there is a collapse unfortunately, we will not change our intensity. We will keep on playing this way,” Taskin said in the post-match press conference.

 

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