The course of the match changed in the 15th over by Nasum Ahmed. At the end of the match, the two captains spoke separately about that over of 34 runs. However, Mosaddek Hossain, who captained this match, finds another reason behind Bangladesh’s performance in T20. They say that Bangladesh is losing control of the match in the middle overs. It is the same in bowling as it is in batting.
Bangladesh bowled first in all three matches of the series. After taking 2 wickets in the powerplay in the first match, Bangladesh fell behind to the pair of Shaun Williams and Sikandar Raja along with Wesley Madhever. Zimbabwe increased the run rate by holding wickets in the middle overs that day. Today, however, Zimbabwe lost 6 wickets in the 13th over. However, Bangladesh could not break the pair of Ryan Burl and Luc Jangue. Nasum’s over came after that.
In terms of batting, Bangladesh started well in the first match. Liton Das scored only 13 runs but did not waste the ball. His strike rate is more than 200. But apart from Afif, none of the other batsmen could match the run and ball count. After the top-order failed, the middle-order batsmen were under two-way pressure of losing wickets and rising run-rates. Everyone lost it.
In the press conference at the end of the match, Mosaddek said about these problems, “We are withdrawing from the match in the middle overs. If you look at the bowling, we are not able to take wickets in the middle overs. The same is the case with batting. In the middle overs, the game is not going the way it should be. That is why we are under pressure towards the end.”
There is a lack of batting plan, admitted Mosaddeq, “If you lose wickets very quickly in T20s, it becomes very difficult to chase runs. The game must be calculated here. In terms of batting, we could not do that, due to which we lost the match.”
After the World Cup, Bangladesh failed to win four consecutive series (3 losses, one draw). In this series, Bangladesh entered the new series by singing ‘Joygan’. Even before the series, the team director Khaled Mahmud said, they have no problem even if they lose by 3-0. However, the nature of the loss has again put a question mark next to Bangladesh’s T20 ability.
However, Mosaddek is claiming that everything except the last match is going according to their plan. He also hopes to do better in the future, ‘You see, as I planned before coming here – how many runs I want to score. Except for this match, everything was going according to plan. Asia Cup, World Cup ahead in T20; Shakib bhai will come, more players will come. God willing, we will do well.
Before this, however, there is an ODI series against Zimbabwe. Just as there was hope before the ODI series after the Test and T20 series defeats against the West Indies, Mosaddeq echoed, “Everyone knows how good we are in ODIs.” We won the series against West Indies 3-0. We are confident.”
