Tri-series 3rd T20: ‘We need to improve’, Shakib says after another batting disaster

UNB, Dhaka :

After the first defeat in the ongoing Tri-Series against Pakistan, Nurul Hasan Sohan, the stand-in Bangladesh captain, said they have to improve to do well in T20Is.

Now, after the second defeat to New Zealand, the regular Bangladesh captain, Shakib Al Hasan, has echoed Sohan and said: “We need to improve.”

Bangladesh is regarded as one of the strongest teams in ODIs. But when it comes to T20Is, Bangladesh is a team who seems to have no idea about what they should do.

“We started well but we couldn’t handle their quality spinners and we never got any momentum,” Shakib said to the broadcaster after the match. “The top three had to put their hands up and bat till 15-16 overs.”

Surprisingly, when the top three failed to deliver what Bangladesh needed to pose a tough challenge to the Blackcaps, Shakib decided to go down in the batting order. Reason? Shakib said he wanted to see a left-right combination in the middle!

“Batting is one of the areas where we need to improve and will keep working on that. It is hard to keep the energy up when you lose two games, but the World Cup is coming up, so the next two games will be crucial for us,” Shakib added.

Despite playing 25 T20Is over the last two years, Bangladesh team management is still sweating over having a permanent opening pair. The problem intensified after Tamim Iqbal’s retirement from T20Is.

In recent matches, Bangladesh fielded Mehidy Hasan and Sabbir Rahman as experimental opening pair. Mehidy has done well in the new role so far. But Sabbir proved he has little to offer in international cricket. Now, Bangladesh team management returned to Najmul Hossain Shanto who did nothing to get a place in the T20 team.

Overall, with the World Cup just around the corner, the Bangladesh T20 team became more of a laboratory to test the players if they are capable of representing Bangladesh in this format.