NEWS
Follow UsBangladesh came into the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 with a series loss to the United States of America (USA). Even though they managed to make it to the Super8 stage of the tournament, they lost the opening encounter against Australia. Twelve hours later, they are back on the field again for the nets session ahead of the all-important clash against India, where a loss could potentially derail their campaign for good.
The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound has played strangely in the last couple of weeks. The average first innings score at the venue has been 121/7 in the ongoing World Cup, which is only better than Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad among the Caribbean venues. However, Taskin Ahmed, the Bangladesh pacer, doesn’t want their batters to lose hope and instead wants to put up around 170 or 180 against India on June 22 (Saturday).
“Definitely, we still have chances. The wicket is good here. It won't be easy, for sure. But we are not giving up hope. If we can win both matches, then we will have a chance to play the semi-final. Even if there is rain in the next game and we get 1 point, then still we will have a chance if we can win the last match. This one we lost; actually, we had a low total. They played aggressively and did well. We are hopeful that if we win the next match, it will be a different story,” Taskin Ahmed said in the pre-match press conference in Antigua.
“Actually, it's getting better than before. But we haven't played in the USA and here also at the beginning with such a batting-friendly wicket. Each venue has a different wicket. The challenge here is a bit different. The batsmen are a bit more favored here. If we bat first, we have to score at least 170 or 180. The wicket will be a bit better since we'll play in the daytime. Even the challenge for the bowlers is more. The margin is small. We have to bowl more smartly. It won't be easy. But if we can execute our proper execution smartly, we can expect to win."
From 0/1 in the first over, Bangladesh recovered to 58/1 thanks to skipper Najmul Shanto’s fightback. Shanto entered the clash with scores of 4, 1, 14 & 7 but posted a well-compiled 41. Bangladesh eventually posted 140 runs - and lost the game. Taskin believes that batters needed to reduce the number of dot balls they played in order to help the bowlers have a bigger target to defend.
“Actually, in the batting, since we bat first, in that case, maybe, depending on the wicket, it would be better if the number of dot balls were less. Although the ball was gripping a little before the rain. After the rain, the ball is coming beautifully to the bat. So, If we had bowled earlier, I think we would have had a better chance if we could defend within 150-160.
“It was a little difficult to bat first. When the ball was wet after the rain, it was coming nicely to their bat but it didn't happen when we batted first. After the ball was wet during our bowling, we learned that the margin was very small. And there is a short side and a big side, there was wind. So, what we learned here is that the length and variation are very important if the same condition comes again. So, in this wicket, the margin is small for the bowlers and for batsmen, we have to play with more responsibility keeping wickets in hand.”
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