Bangladesh are one of the first two sides to crash out of the Champions Trophy. More or less, the same has been their fate in the ICC events in the recent past. But skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto admits his batters need more mental toughness. And that, according to him, can only come when the players are given consistent chances to prove themselves.
“I have said it a lot of times in the past, but we [have] made the same mistakes over and over again,” Shanto said in a press conference after Bangladesh’s elimination from the Champions Trophy. “We have to focus on how we want to improve our batting. I hope after this tournament, we will make some changes as a batting unit, which will bring improvement in our batting.”
Shanto is correct in pointing out the weaknesses in Bangladesh’s batting lineup. In two matches, the team managed to score only 228 and 236 runs, despite playing under completely different conditions. The Bangladesh batters didn’t provide many good starts, and when they did, those opportunities were not capitalized on.
The Bangladesh skipper quickly clarified that by ‘changes,’ he does not advocate for overhauling the entire team but rather for a rethinking of their approach when playing in high-stakes games.
“We have to be more responsible for the team when we go out to bat. We cannot keep chopping and changing [personnel]. We have to keep giving our existing resources more opportunities. I think we are taking it lightly. We have to be more responsible.”
Bangladesh played New Zealand at the Rawalpindi Stadium. The pitch was not particularly challenging, in fact, it offered more to batters than bowlers. But Bangladesh’s batting lineup could not survive against Michael Bracewell’s spin on a track that did not assist his kind much. Bracewell picked up four wickets for a mere 26 runs in his quota of 10 overs.
“It was a good wicket, worth at least 280 to 300 runs. I think (Bracewell) bowled well but we fell to some soft dismissals,” Shanto acknowledged his side’s shortcomings. “We made the mistakes with the bat. We could have batted better against him on this wicket. There was some poor shot selection. We could have planned better, which wouldn’t have given him so many wickets. He bowled well but we made some poor executions.
Of all Test-playing nations, Bangladesh have the second-fewest 300-plus team totals in one-day format, with most of them coming against lower-ranked teams. The primary reason behind this has largely been their inability to build longer partnerships, while also keeping the run rate in check. Another factor, which Shanto believes affects the team’s ability to post big totals, is the lack of ‘better practice wickets’.
“We have room for improvement. We don’t score 300-plus totals regularly. The number of dot balls was mainly because we lost wickets in a cluster in the middle overs. Maybe, if we had two big partnerships, we wouldn’t have suffered so much today. We have to build the habit of scoring 300 runs regularly. For that, we need better practice wickets.”
The farthest Bangladesh have gone in an ICC event was reaching the semi-finals in the previous edition of the Champions Trophy. Their form at global events has nearly always been subpar. Had it not been for Sri Lanka’s lackluster outings in the ODI World Cup, Bangladesh might have even missed out on the Champions Trophy. Shanto opined the only way his team can do well at ICC events is through collective effort.
“We only win at home. We don’t win regularly in overseas conditions. We have to find out how we can do well in ICC tournaments,” Shanto said. “We need a collective improvement. There are days when the top order is doing well, another day only the middle order is doing well. There are days when we field well. It is a haphazard situation. I think only a collective performance can help us do well against big teams in these tournaments.”
