Prior to the Asia Cup, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan believes their first T20 series victory over Afghanistan will serve as a tremendous confidence enhancer. After losing the ODIs by a score of 2-1, the hosts fought back in the shortest format to win the series 2-0 at the Sylhet International Stadium.
“From here (T20 squad) around 80 to 90 percent cricketers will play in the ODIs and this is a huge confidence boost for us ahead of the Asia Cup,” Shakib said after his team’s win.
Shakib opined that things were going well for his team in T20Is, but conceded that they must become more adaptable if they are to achieve greater success in the future. In the second game of the two-match series, Bangladesh elevated number seven batter Afif Hossain up the order due to drizzle. Afif (24) responded well to his new position by contributing 67 runs to the opening partnership with Litton Das, laying the foundation for the enormous victory against one of the world’s best bowling attacks in this shorter format.
Bangladesh also recorded their fourth consecutive bilateral series victory in this format, having previously defeated UAE 2-0 in Dubai last year and England and Ireland by 3-0 and 2-1 margins respectively in their own backyard this year.
“If there is flexibility it is good for the team. In T20s, a number seven might have to do the same job that openers have to do. If the openers bat for 15 overs he might have to play the next five overs as well. If everyone can bat everywhere, they won’t find it difficult to adapt when facing a tough situation. The same goes for the bowlers when they bowl in different situations.
“The five or six bowlers we have… our job is to make things easy for batters and we always try that. Now with the combination we have, we are seeing a healthy competition among pacers and spinners and this is a good thing for the team,” Shakib added.
“Towhid Hridoy and other players are with us from the last World Cup. Most of the players in this team are here either from the World Cup or Asia Cup. Two to four players are coming and going but it’s a continuous process. But we are still far from getting our best combination,” he said, adding that beating Afghanistan in T20Is came as a big releif as they’ve not done very well historically against them in this format.
“Of course, it’s a big relief when your plans work accordingly and players can also execute it on the field and we get results in our favour. What can be better than that? We didn’t have good results against them in this format. But after winning such a series in this type of condition, I think it will give us great confidence to do well in the coming days,” Shakib said.
