NEWSBangladesh coach Russell Domingo on Saturday said his team will be targeting a rather inexperienced Indian bowling attack to upstage the hosts in the T20I series decider on Sunday.
The Indian team is without the services of injured pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, seamer Bhuvneswar Kumar and all-rounder Hardik Pandya with Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Washington Sundar shouldering the bowling responsibilities in the three-match series.
“It’s no secret that they have got reasonably an inexperienced bowling attack. If we bat well, stick to our strategies we can put their bowling attack under pressure,” said Domingo on the eve of the game.
“So look, they are a good side but we do think that if we bat up potentially, we can put their bowling attack under pressure.”
The team batting second ended up as the winner in both the games, making the toss all the more crucial.
“I think dew has affected (the games). Toss has played a role, both teams batting second have come around top but look if we had got 180-190 in the last game, we would have given ourselves a better chance. That was really no excuse in terms of not playing well,” Domingo said.
The build up to the India tour was far from ideal for Bangladesh with players going on strike over a pay dispute and star all-rounder Shakib Al Hassan being suspended by the ICC for failing to report corrupt approaches.
Domingo said not many would have expected his team to play the way they have so far considering the run of events ahead of the tour.
“It has been a tough couple of weeks before this tour, but the players deserve a lot of credit. The energy and desire they have shown in the last 10 days has been fantastic. They were willing to try new things. They are playing against a quality side away from home,” he said.
“If someone said to us two weeks ago that we will be one-all coming into Nagpur, no one would have believed it. So we are pretty happy where are, and it is a great opportunity tomorrow.”
Frontline pacer Mustafizur Rahman has not made an impact in the series so far but that is not yet a concern for Domingo.
“He is a quality bowler. He is a match winner, and our most experienced bowler. We know that a big performance is just around the corner,” the coach said.
“Bowlers are under pressure in this format, particularly with a wet ball against top quality batters on a good wicket.”
Domingo, who took charge of the team post the World Cup in July, also laid out his vision for the T20 team, factoring on its limitations.
“I don’t think we are ever going to be a West Indian or England type of batting line-up with guys who can get the ball out of the ground. Just physically we are not that type of team,” the coach said.
“Afif, Mosaddek and Liton are small boys, but we are trying to use the pace, running hard between the wickets, getting gaps, picking up twos; six twos in an over is as good as two sixes. We are working on our other strengths.”
The Bangladesh off-spinners went for runs in the previous game with Rohit wreaking havoc.
Asked if he would consider playing a left-arm spinner on Sunday, the coach said: “Our off-spinners worked a game ago, but just because it didn’t work in the last game doesn’t mean everything has to change.
“We don’t want to be a team that makes knee-jerk reactions to a loss. It has been the case for this team for too long.
“We want to back a certain group of players. If somebody has a bad game doesn’t mean he doesn’t play for the next six months. It is part of T20 cricket.”
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