Desk Report:
Test, ODI or T20I – It is natural to be in such a dilemma when looking at the scorecard of the opening match of the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka match last night in Abu Dhabi. Tanjid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Liton Das – the early batsmen have failed. According to Zaker Ali Anik, it is important for the team’s top-order to perform well.
Batting first after losing the toss, Bangladesh could not score any runs in the first 13 balls. In the meantime, Tanjid Tamim and Emon have both bowled. After four overs, the team’s score is 7 for 2. Captain Liton scored 28 runs in 26 balls, making Bangladesh’s score look somewhat decent. However, when Liton was out as the team’s fifth batsman, the team’s score was 53 for 5. Even after half of the innings (9.5 overs) was over, the run rate did not rise to 6.
According to Zaker, it is impossible for the team to score as expected if the first-row batsmen do not do well. The 27-year-old Bangladeshi middle-order batsman said, “Only those who have faced it can say. I think there should have been more planning, more attention to timing. Opening, number three is definitely very important for the team. They have to be careful about these things. Powerplay does not mean that you have to hit four or sixes with every ball.”
After Liton was dismissed, Zaker-Shamim Patwari batted till the end of the innings. For the sixth wicket, they (Zaker-Shamim) made an unbreakable partnership of 86 runs off 61 balls. Zaker-Shamim both played 34 balls. Zaker scored the highest 42 runs in the innings. Shamim’s bat came with 41 runs. Although Bangladesh scored 139 runs for 5 wickets on the scoreboard, it was not enough for them. After losing the match by 6 wickets, Zaker said, “I and Shamim played well, but it does not mean that we played very well as a team. We lost because of bad play by everyone. We have to do well as a team.’
Chasing a target of 140 runs, Sri Lanka were reduced to 13 for 1 in 1.5 overs. The Sri Lankans could have lost their second wicket for 28 runs. But Sheikh Mehedi Hasan, who came running from mid-on and could not bowl the ball even after two attempts. Kamil Mishara, who got his life for 1 run, then thrashed the Bangladesh bowlers. Mishara-Patum Nishanka put on a 95-run stand off 52 balls for the second wicket, taking the Sri Lankans a long way towards winning the match. In the end, they won the match by 6 wickets with 32 balls in hand. Explaining Bangladesh’s defeat, Zaker said, ‘We had no shortage of preparation. We could not play according to plan on the field.’
The Bangladesh-Afghanistan match will start at 8:30 pm Bangladesh time in Abu Dhabi the day after tomorrow. However, this is the second match of the group stage for the Afghans. Sri Lanka will play against Hong Kong tomorrow. This match will be held in Dubai. The Sri Lankans will play their last match of the group stage in Abu Dhabi on September 18. Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh each have 2 points. But due to negative net run rates (-0.650), Liton’s team is third in the ‘B’ group points table. The top two, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, have net run rates of +4.70 and +2.595.
