It’s the fight for all. Bangladesh had lost their first match and Australia had to share points with NewZealand due to the rain abandoned game.
If you compare the two teams, Australia is definitely ahead in both bowling and batting. But Bangladesh side is also improving. They had scored well the other day, giving a target of 300+ runs which is commendable. But the one thing Bangladesh should look at positively from Friday’s match is that the Australian bowlers didn’t look unplayable. While they might be quick and fierce, they can also be taken for runs in different ways, like Luke Ronchi and Kane Williamson showed them.
In the last game against England, Bangladesh didn’t bowl particularly well but can say batting was better.
According to the Bangladesh veteran Habibul Bashar, it’s a do-or-die match for both the teams.
“From both teams’ point of view, there is no way back if they make a mistake. I am sure the Bangladesh team would have watched Australia’s match against New Zealand with great interest. I did too because Bangladesh is due to play the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 champion next and I wanted to get a sense of what new one could expect from Australia. While the team was its formidable self, there were a few signs that Bangladesh will take heart from.”
He feels Bangladesh should have a positive mindset and look to make improvements in the departments that they are lacking.
“The important thing for Bangladesh is to be positive. At The Oval against England, Bangladesh was a bit defensive with both its bowling and its fielding. On good batting tracks, it is difficult to contain quality batsmen, therefore the intent must be to go for wickets even if you are a little expensive. The lines and lengths of the Bangladeshi bowlers were pretty good against England, but line and length can only take you that far. You need to bowl wicket-taking deliveries, you need to keep thinking – “wicket, wicket, wicket.”
He also spoke about the squad combination that Bangladesh should move forward with.
“Bangladesh made a tactical mistake by going a bowler short against England. With there being no second chances, it must play with five bowlers this time around. It will be another flat track at The Oval if there is no rain, which means you must have the extra bowler. And even if there is help from the weather, an eighth batsman isn’t of much use if the top-seven don’t come up trumps. I would like to see Mehedi Hasan in the playing XI, and Mashrafe Mortaza can even toss the new-ball to the 19-year-old off-spinner. There are a lot of hard-hitting opening batsmen who don’t like playing spin at the beginning of their innings, so that won’t be a bad idea. And once the ball gets old, he will obviously be quite a handful, as he has shown in his brief international career.
Bangladesh might also opt for a pace bowler instead of Mehedi, and that’s fine as well, so long as the intent is to play the extra bowler. At the end of the day, in a must-win game, the need of the hour is to take wickets, as Mashrafe and the think-tank will be well aware.”