Abdullah Al Mehdi

Bangladesh’s batting order and their overall batting plan in the T20I format continue to flummox, with Liton Das and skipper Shakib Al Hasan’s batting positions an area which negates Bangladesh’s advantage as a batting unit heading into the T20I World Cup in Australia.

When it comes to death-over bowling, the 2022 Asia Cup has seen pretty sub-par performances from a few bowlers. Pakistan’s Harris Rauf and India’s Arshdeep Singh have been the most reliable names in the tournament, but in general, runs have been leaked and the biggest boost it has given is to batters who played the role of finisher in the T20 event.

The recent pattern of the T20 game has seen wrist spinners gain more ground but the dearth of off-spinners in the shortest format has seen their roles come into question, whereas in ODIs the off-spinners are called to stem the flow of runs and also to lull batters to take chances against them, resulting in their dismissals.

It was heartbreak for Bangladesh as they exited the Asia Cup, unable to grab the bull by the horns, on Thursday following an agonising two-wicket defeat in Dubai.

After being dealt a crushing blow by Afghanistan in the first match of the 2022 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka captain and all-rounder Dasun Shanaka opined that Afghanistan were a much more difficult hurdle than their Group B opponents Bangladesh.

Bangladesh appear to be the fifth-best among the top five teams heading into the Asia Cup tournament.

T20I skipper for just a series, Nurul Hasan Sohan's injury triggered chaos and exposed the lack of clarity in the decision-making of the Bangladesh national team's think tank once again.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) arranged a get-together and lunch for cricketers at a city hotel today and, although members of the team management downplayed the significance of the ‘special’ lunch ahead of the Tigers’ tour of Zimbabwe, scraping past the surface the motive may have been to communicate some issues to the senior stars who might have been left a bit disappointed with the BCB’s refurbishment of the T20I line-up for the upcoming T20I series.

Legendary Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram was in favour of scrapping the ODI format as Test and T20 cricket gain more ground across the world, fueling the flames of the ODI format’s uncertain future that came to the fore when England’s Ben Stokes recently chose to retire from the 50-over game.

It has long been understood that Bangladesh find it easier to meet the challenges of the ODI format.

Following the T20 World Cup debacle in the UAE last year, there were talks in the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) hierarchy about finding a new direction for the T20I team.

The last time Bangladesh played a Test series in West Indies, Kemar Roach hobbled away to a fifer, conceding just eight runs in Antigua, the

Usually, when a new Test captain is appointed, the first focus is on the direction he wants to take the team. But Bangladesh’s newly instated captain is yet to speak about his plans for the team or the brand of cricket he wants to see it play.

Spin coach Rangana Herath is conducting a four-day spin camp with 32 spinners in order to strengthen the spin-bowling pipeline. It became apparent that there was a lack of spinners around the periphery of the national team when Bangladesh played the recent Dhaka Test against Sri Lanka with four front-line bowlers despite Shakib Al Hasan being there. Mosaddek Hossain came in as a batter who can bowl and the burden of majority of the overs fell on Taijul Islam and Shakib.

“He has a deeper understanding of his game and that is making the difference,” Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, a long-term mentor to Mushfiqur Rahim, said about one of his favourite students while talking to The Daily Star yesterday.

The first Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ended in a draw, as expected due to the nature of the wicket, a flat surface which showed little wear and tear over the course of five days.

Hometown hero Tamim Iqbal was a class apart at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram yesterday and the most remarkable aspect of his innings was the necessary poise and comfort he displayed during his 133 run-knock in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

“It’s always tough when you are injured but I tried to adapt,” Nayeem Hasan said with a smile that did not altogether conceal his boyish charm during the press conference in Chattogram yesterday.

Shakib Al Hasan and a few others raised a hand in the air directed towards the sky during the practice session yesterday, pointing out the rain clouds but by then the cloud of Shakib’s unavailability had left the side.

Bangladesh Cricket Board's High Performance (HP) team's scheduled tour of Ireland had been pushed to next year due to the host board's international commitments, while the ongoing financial crisis in Sri Lanka had seen the SLC unable to host Bangladesh HP this year as well.