Tamim may return for last T20

Mashrafe hints at fielding best possible team

One defeat suddenly put Bangladesh in a position of sharing the four-match T20 series with Zimbabwe gaining the much-needed momentum after a long stretch of defeats.
The Zimbabwe’s aggressive brand of cricket, coupled with Bangladesh’s experiment what is believed to be an over-experiment, caused the home side’s 31-run defeat in the third match. The manner in which the visiting batsmen dispatched the inexperienced Bangladeshi bowling line up, raised a genuine prospect of levelling the series which Bangladesh are expected to wrap effortlessly.
Though one defeat shouldn’t dent the mood, it seemed Bangladesh are under-fire to win the series. The experiment which head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is believed to instigate, wasn’t welcomed by many people inside the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), team sources said. Along with the pressure, the defeat also caused a scare and it affected Bangladesh such manner that there was even suggestion whether they could bring back Mustafizur Rahman who was rested from the last two matches following his slight shoulder injury. Mustafizur took part a gym session yesterday at the stadium when all the team members enjoyed a rest day.
There was report that even the BCB president wasn’t pleased by the experiment and suggested to make a couple of changes by bringing up Tamim Iqbal and Arafat Sunny in the team. Tamim’s rest came as a quite surprise, specially when the series wasn’t ensured. In addition of resting Tamim, Bangladesh also brought up four debutants in the match. All of the four debutants put up a disappointing performance.
Abu Haider and Mohammad Shahid, the two debutants, shared the new ball and delivered a quite well first over before they were made disarray by the sustained aggression of Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza. Their lack of experience was exposed when the duo went on them harshly. While captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was used to open the bowling in T20 cricket, he surprisingly came up as first change bowler. It is believed Mashrafe should open the bowling given the inexperienced bowling line up. However according to team sources, it is the coach Hathurusingha who advised to fulfill the four-over quota of all new bowlers.
In the wake of the situation, there was series of meeting at team hotel. After holding a meeting with all players and supporting staffs, Chandika Hathurusingha had a two hours long one-to-one meeting with captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.
Mashrafe didn’t disclose the outcome of the meeting but said they have no alternative to win the match and the series. For the sake of the victory, they would play the best possible team.
“As we lost the match, everyone could say that it was over-experiment. But if we would have won the match, no one could utter any words,” Mashrafe said.
“However we have no other way but to win the match. We’ll field a best possible team in order to ensure our series victory.”
Bangladesh however could make three changes, brining up Tamim Iqbal, Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed. Muktar Ali and Mohammad Shahid could be dropped.
While the experiment turned out to be expensive, team manager Khaled Mahmud defended it by saying they want to keep all players prepared considering the injury-risk and other factors.
“Since we’ll play so many matches at the same time, we need to create an effective back-up who could fill the shoes of others if they are injured,” said Mahmud, reminding the experience of the 2015 World Cup.
“We had to play many matches simultaneously. Some players got injured after playing at a stretch and we had to bring up players from Bangladesh. Al-Amin was sent back while Shafiul replaced him but we couldn’t field him in any match because he lacked fitness. Anamul Haque was injured and then Imrul Kayes replaced him but he made just nine runs in three matches. He wasn’t also prepared.”
“Considering those factors, we want to create a back-up and that’s why the coach wanted to test all the players caliber. This series is the best opportunity to test the players. Experiment always doesn’t come good but there is nothing negativity in it. We have to create a pool of 20 players, considering the Asia Cup and World T20.”
It will be the 50th T20 International match for Bangladesh since they made their debut in the shortest format of  cricket in 2006 against the same opponents and also at the venue.

Tamim may return for last T20

Mashrafe hints at fielding best possible team

One defeat suddenly put Bangladesh in a position of sharing the four-match T20 series with Zimbabwe gaining the much-needed momentum after a long stretch of defeats. The Zimbabwes aggressive brand of cricket, coupled with Bangladeshs experiment what is believed to be an over-experiment, caused the home sides 31-run defeat in the third match. The manner in which the visiting batsmen dispatched the inexperienced Bangladeshi bowling line up, raised a genuine prospect of levelling the series which Bangladesh are expected to wrap effortlessly. Though one defeat shouldnt dent the mood, it seemed Bangladesh are under-fire to win the series. The experiment which head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is believed to instigate, wasnt welcomed by many people inside the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), team sources said. Along with the pressure, the defeat also caused a scare and it affected Bangladesh such manner that there was even suggestion whether they could bring back Mustafizur Rahman who was rested from the last two matches following his slight shoulder injury. Mustafizur took part a gym session yesterday at the stadium when all the team members enjoyed a rest day. There was report that even the BCB president wasnt pleased by the experiment and suggested to make a couple of changes by bringing up Tamim Iqbal and Arafat Sunny in the team. Tamims rest came as a quite surprise, specially when the series wasnt ensured. In addition of resting Tamim, Bangladesh also brought up four debutants in the match. All of the four debutants put up a disappointing performance. Abu Haider and Mohammad Shahid, the two debutants, shared the new ball and delivered a quite well first over before they were made disarray by the sustained aggression of Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza. Their lack of experience was exposed when the duo went on them harshly. While captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was used to open the bowling in T20 cricket, he surprisingly came up as first change bowler. It is believed Mashrafe should open the bowling given the inexperienced bowling line up. However according to team sources, it is the coach Hathurusingha who advised to fulfill the four-over quota of all new bowlers. In the wake of the situation, there was series of meeting at team hotel. After holding a meeting with all players and supporting staffs, Chandika Hathurusingha had a two hours long one-to-one meeting with captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. Mashrafe didnt disclose the outcome of the meeting but said they have no alternative to win the match and the series. For the sake of the victory, they would play the best possible team. As we lost the match, everyone could say that it was over-experiment. But if we would have won the match, no one could utter any words, Mashrafe said. However we have no other way but to win the match. Well field a best possible team in order to ensure our series victory. Bangladesh however could make three changes, brining up Tamim Iqbal, Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed. Muktar Ali and Mohammad Shahid could be dropped. While the experiment turned out to be expensive, team manager Khaled Mahmud defended it by saying they want to keep all players prepared considering the injury-risk and other factors. Since well play so many matches at the same time, we need to create an effective back-up who could fill the shoes of others if they are injured, said Mahmud, reminding the experience of the 2015 World Cup. We had to play many matches simultaneously. Some players got injured after playing at a stretch and we had to bring up players from Bangladesh. Al-Amin was sent back while Shafiul replaced him but we couldnt field him in any match because he lacked fitness. Anamul Haque was injured and then Imrul Kayes replaced him but he made just nine runs in three matches. He wasnt also prepared. Considering those factors, we want to create a back-up and thats why the coach wanted to test all the players caliber. This series is the best opportunity to test the players. Experiment always doesnt come good but there is nothing negativity in it. We have to create a pool of 20 players, considering the Asia Cup and World T20. It will be the 50th T20 International match for Bangladesh since they made their debut in the shortest format of cricket in 2006 against the same opponents and also at the venue.