Tuesday, Mehidy Hasan Miraz of Bangladesh admitted that batting in various positions is challenging for him and that he prefers a middle-order position in ODIs.
Bangladesh team management have played Mehidy at five different positions in the ongoing OODI World Cup and it seemed to have taken an enormous toll considering none of the batters could claim they had a fixed place in the batting order.
Mehidy, who is primarily a lower middle-order batsman, scored a century against Afghanistan during the Asia Cup, and since then, team management has been adamant about promoting him up instead of allowing him to continue playing in the position for which he was nurtured for years. Bangladesh decided to bat Mehidy at number eight against Pakistan after having him bat at three, four, five, and seven in the previous six games. He scored
This game will be impossible to win in 35 to 40 overs. We will need to bat effectively for 50 overs. And we divided it into 10-over chunks,” Afghanistan’s coach Trott said after the game against Pakistan, referring to the mini-goals that Afghanistan had set. On Monday, during the match against Sri Lanka at the MCA stadium in Pune, the final blue figures on the white polished surface were 48 and 242. Afghanistan didn’t even require that many overs, as their successful run chase in 45.2 overs validated their status as genuine World Cup contenders.
Before the 2023 World Cup, Afghanistan had pursued seven times in ODIs and won only twice when batting second. Despite their inspired performance against England, New Zealand added to their tally of run-chase defeats by bowling them out for 139 runs, resulting in a 149-run defeat. Afghanistan also had a problem with strike rate, with Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah among the list of players with a strike rate below 70 and a minimum of 1800 runs since 2010. A combined batting average of 26.46 for the middle-order batsmen (4-7) since 2022, the lowest average among the 10 nations competing in this World Cup, was also not encouraging.
From the beginning of this year until the commencement of the World Cup, Afghanistan’s top five did not have the greatest statistics. The average of 47.80 for Ibrahim Zadran was the highest, followed by 34.18 for Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Prior to this World Cup, they had only nine half-century partnerships and three century stands, the fewest of all 2023 World Cup teams. In addition, they had only 14 scores of fifty or higher in 2023 prior to this competition, the fewest among the ten teams.
Afghanistan, however, have been an entirely different beast in their third World Cup appearance. They now have nine fifty-plus scores, six of which have been recorded in the last two games, three 50-plus partnerships in consecutive games, two of which are over 100, robust batting averages for the top five, and clinical pursuit in the last two games. How did this transition take place?
“Look I always want to bat in the middle order and I am playing in different positions due to team combination and certainly it becomes difficult for me because you have to see for the last seven years I have played as a lower middle-order batter and I know how to play in that position,” Mehidy told reporters after their seven-wicket loss to Pakistan at Eden Garden on Tuesday.
“But I think rather than thinking about it if we want to prove as a batter I have to perform wherever I am given a chance and at that point team will have an expectation that I can perform wherever I bat,” he said.
“The thing that you said where I will bat in the next game it totally dependent on the team combination and, before the game, the decision is taken by team management who will bat where in the batting order and this is done for the sake of the team. Whoever can play, chances are given to him. It is just that we are not clicking and we don’t want to blame anyone like one or two guys played badly because we all played badly and we are accepting it,” he said.
“We lost wickets quickly. Riyad bhai batted up in the order because he is playing and is currently in a good shape and has the confidence. Considering all these things Riyad bhai and Mushfiq bhai were promoted up in the order because they have the experience of playing in that position in lot of games. Liton da and Riyad bhai got a good partnership but if it was a bit more it would have helped,” he said.
Mehidy added that if they fail to qualify for the Champions Trophy in 2025, they will be dejected. Bangladesh’s prospects of qualifying for the Champions Trophy are low after winning just one game in seven appearances thus far. According to the ICC, the top seven teams at the conclusion of the league stage, including the hosts Pakistan, will qualify for the tournament.
“If we cannot play Champions Trophy naturally it will hurt us,” he said. “I think luck is not favoring us. The batters are playing shots and it is going straight into the hand of the fielders as catches and they are grabbing it and there is something going wrong with the bowling as well,” he said.
“This hasn’t been the case before because we are playing one-day for last three years but somehow luck is not favouring us. Naturally after losing we will be disappointed but this is cricket and there will be wins and losses in matches and we must accept it,” he concluded.
