Riyads call to adopt fearless approach
He thinks its an opportunity to play well in T20 format
Sports Reporter
Bangladesh want to make a statement in the T20 cricket, a format in which they find them vulnerable particularly on most of the occasion. The two-match T20 series against Sri Lanka, starting today with the first one at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium will be their first mission to get out of the trauma as more T20 matches in the coming days is waiting for them.
The hosts consider its a high time to fix the issues if they want to strip off the question mark on their ability in the T20 format. This looks tough task given their out-of-sort and jaded performance in the recently concluded tri-nation one-day tournament and Test series while most of the senior players suffered from some sort of injury, making the side an injury-ravaged team.
Captain Shakib Al Hasan was ruled out already while opener Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim had niggle on bicep and wrist respectively. The team is yet decide on whether they duo could play in the first T20, forcing them to call up Mohammad Mithun as back-up player. If both Tamim and Mushfiqur remain unfit to get down in the first match, Bangladesh will have to deal with the problem huge lack of experience, given as many as six uncapped players included into the 15-member squad, meaning at least four players would make their debut.
While the problem got multiplying, stand-in captain Mahmudullah Riyad remained unfazed, saying still they need to be fearless in their approach since they want to make a statement.
Its a different format, different ball game and the tempo will be different than the ODI and Test cricket. There was huge expectation on us given the way we had performed at our home den but we couldnt simply live up to the expectation. I think there is a question mark on our ability in the T20 format. The opportunity has come to show that we can play well in this format. We want to make a statement, so the series is important for us, Mahmudullah Riyad said.
The new players should enjoy the game. They are here because they deserved a chance in the national team. Now its up to them as to how they will make it count. They need to be pressure-free, they need to be fearless. If they take pressure on them, they wont thrive here.
As many as six uncapped players in the team may give the indication of an experiment but Riyad dismissed the notion, saying that all of the players are capable of making a statement.
All of them are capable as they showed good performance in the BPL and other cricket. We have more T20 matches coming up, so we need a bunch of guys to prepare them well. These players have the ability to force their case stronger. We have trust on them.
The stand-in captain however identified one other arena in which he emphasized on to give much importance. According to him, they need to cut off the dot ball percentage, a fact which troubled Bangladesh more often than not in the T20 format.
You cant hit the ball boundary all the time. When we cant hit big, we need to ensure of rotating the scoreboard with singles and doubles but its the thing which we couldnt do successfully in the past. That was the big reason of our failure in this format. We have been practicing to fix the issue and hopefully you will see some smart cricket from us in this series, he said.
