A timely booster for Tigers
Mashrafe hopes he would be recover from ankle injury before England series starts
Sports Reporter
Bangladesh boost them up mentally ahead of a much sterner series against England with a crushing win over Afghanistan in the series deciding third game. The manner in which they won the match was badly needed after their morale shattering two-wicket defeat to the ICC associates in the second match. The Afghanistans spirited cricket at one phase left Bangladesh in a danger of losing the series, however the hosts played to their full potential in the third match to thump them by 141 runs, a massive victory that confirmed their 100th ODI victory and sixth straight bilateral series.
Even though they amended a series, full of mistakes with a gigantic victory, Bangladesh were left to solve some problems ahead of the series against England. Afghanistans inexperience to play at this level basically cost them the series otherwise they were good position to win the first match which eventually they lost by eight runs.
First and foremost, Bangladesh need to fix the problem of their brittle batting line up which used to taste collapse after a big partnership. Bangladesh though top flight opposition like India, Pakistan and South Africa in the past year, the batting was always headache. The batting was vastly relied on the start of Tamim at the top but hardly fired as a unit. Most of the time the bowlers took the onus to save the team. There was always question that who will fit nicely in the crucial No.3 position, a question that is yet to be answered. Bangladesh tasted three different batsmen in this position during the series against Afghanistan. Mahmudullah Riyad was initially deemed to take the place but his absence in the lower order proved to be costly. As a versatile and aggressive component Riyad is thought to be material for late order. Sabbir Rahman who established him as No.3 batsman in the T20 cricket, was given the chance and grabbed the opportunity with both hand by hitting his career best 65.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe said, Sabbirs promotion to the No.3 was a strategic move which worked well.
He can attack and defend at the same time. Its a quality that is badly needed for a No.3 batsman. He is given the chance and we hope he could justify it well.
Mushfiqur Rahims off-form is another issue for the side. Since his 107 against Zimbabwe in the last years November, Mushfiqur never crossed more than 38 runs. Though he played T20 cricket most the time in this year, the bad form seemed to have affected him. Mashrafe though backed him, his off-form could be costly against England. Like Mushfiqur Rahim, opener Soumya Sarkar also lost his way after a tremendous year. He had the opportunity to regain his form against Afghanistan but he too failed miserably.
In bowling front, Bangladesh are in much better position with Mashrafe himself leading the way. But the captain waited to know how his ankle responds ahead of the series against England. Mashrafe went unscratched despite falling down in his second over as he slipped just when he was about to deliver his second delivery. The unexpected fall into the ground momentarily brought silence in the entire Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium before the skipper got up and completed his over.
He later admitted he is worried about the ankle, where he injured also in the past.
If there is 10 days more for another series, I can recover well. But there are just five or six days to start another series and its the place where I got hurt in the past. So there is some apprehension. But I hope it will be okay in time.
Mashrafes absence would be a great loss for Bangladesh, considering his form and his inspirational captaincy. Mashrafe in fact guided Taskin who came back with remodeled bowling action truly well to realise his best. Rubel Hossain was somewhat erratic but his replacement Shafiul Islam bowled well in the third match. The spinners led by Shakib Al Hasan had a great time and when Mosharraf Hossain Rubel bowled tremendously well on his comeback match after eight years, it proved he had enough stored to give the side.
