Bangladesh cricket now at its edge need its team win by any means the T20 international scheduled today against Zimbabwe at ZAC Stadium Chattogram. For a team, which not long ago was thought to be dark horse in CWC 2019 has depleted to a state that it can not appear with confidence against even Zimbabwe.
Bangladesh won its first match against the same team narrowly in this tournament at SBNCS Dhaka with a little bit of luck. Two youngsters Afiff Hossain in his second T20 appearance and young Mosaddek salvaged the team from yet another humiliation. That followed with what now has become business as usual defeat at the hands of Afghanistan.
A loss today would almost certainly knock Bangladesh out of the tournament. At the present state of mind Bangladesh team can not win against strong Afghanistan.
In the meantime we have seen frequent chopping and changing happening with the Bangladesh squad. The squad announced for the first two matches of the T20 series had some surprises. Rubel, Shafiur, Abu Hider Rony or Taskin had no place and a rookie Yasin was preferred over them. Young spinning all rounder Mehedy Hasan was also included. Bangladesh huffed and puffed in winning the first match against Zimbabwe. Suddenly Rony was added to the squad on the plea that Yasin got injured. But neither Rony nor Mehedy Hasan was included in the match against Afghanistan which Bangladesh lost. We witnessed a major overhauling of the squad.
Non performing Soumya Sarkar was dropped. Rony, Yasin and Mehedy Hasan were also excluded without even trying them in a match. Rubel and Shafiur were recalled. Three others Nazmul Shanto, Sheikh Naeem and Aminur Rahman were added to the team. Such a nervous state of mind of selection committee has never been seen anywhere.
Anyway nothing is going right for Bangladesh cricket at this moment. Opening batsmen and top order look hesitant. Liton, Mushfiq, Shakib, Saifuddin and Sabbir look panicked . Soumya should not have been included in the squad at all. Shakib was out of wits to hide him from Afghan quality spinners. Mahmudullah played an innings of substance against Afghanistan but not good enough for winning the match. Only young Affif and Mosaddek looked good so far. Bangladesh must regroup and all players today. There has to be a new opening combination. Young Sheikh Naeem can be tried with Liton. Unfortunately Shanto does not have a reputation for a great T20 player .Or he could be paired with Naeem. We are not sure whether Shanto would play. He is due to accompany A team to India soon. Liton looks shaky and low in confidence. Shakib, Mushfiq Mahmudullah should bat at three, four and five. Shakib and Mushfiq failed to deliver so far. This is a match where seniors must lead from the front. Afiff and Mosaddek can be slotted at 6 and 7 with Shabbir and Saifuddin can bat at 8 and 9. If Bangladesh gets a good start they lower middle order and tail can wag. Bangladesh must play Rubel and Shafiul both today in a desperate attempt to rattle Zimbabweans with pace.
We hope Shakib has got over from his horror experience of conceding 30 runs in an over to Burl in the first match. He should let Affif and Mahmudullah bowl few overs.
Zimbabwe on the other hand has nothing to loose. They are going through a crisis period of their cricket. A good performance here would go a long way in ICC reviewing the withdrawal of restrictions on them. Zimbabwe is sparing mate of Bangladesh and always responded to the call of Bangladesh as and when required. That does not mean that they will let a cake walk for Bangladesh. Hamilton Masakdaza their champion player and good friend of Bangladesh will have swan song from international cricket. His mates would be keen to give him grand send off.
Williams and Taylor have experience of Bangladesh cricket. They are wily customers for exploiting the present psyche of Bangladesh cricket. The team has some quality youngsters as well. They have not done all that bad in two matches they played. With a little bit of luck they could have won match against Bangladesh. In the match against Afghanistan Nazibullah Zadaran blasted their attack in taking Afghanistan score out of their reach. If they can somehow tighten their bowling it will not be easy for Bangladesh to beat them. Bangladesh will be desperate and in desperate situation a team becomes vulnerable.
Bangladesh losing today and failing to qualify for the final would be considered as a disaster. BCB will require answering many questions. The credibility of team selection, match planning, team management would come under serious scrutiny. Experts and analysts are already asking questions.
Any way we hope weather holds and match is decided on the performance of the day. It is so very important for both teams to win and move on. Do or die for Bangladesh, nothing to loose for Zimbabwe.
BDST: 0937 HRS, SEP 18, 2019
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