Bangladesh are testing themselves ahead of the World Cup

Bangladesh’s three-match ODI series loss to Afghanistan in their favourite format is a big blow for Bangladesh. Since 2015, the Tigers have not lost a series to any team other than world champions England in this format at home. Afghanistan are always a strong team in limited-overs cricket. Still, they were not a big opponent for Bangladesh in this format. Before this series, Bangladesh was ahead in terms of win-loss. Bangladesh won 7 and lost 4.

Afghanistan have reduced the margin of win-loss by winning the first two matches of the series. However, it is not very important to the Bangladesh team management. Most importantly, there have been a number of deficiencies in the team since the defeat. Which needs to be resolved soon. But Bangladesh have only three months before the World Cup. They will also play the Asia Cup.

Although there is very little time to solve all the problems, Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz believes that the problem can be solved. “We’re going to be more careful about what we lacked in these two games and the mistakes we made. Because we have a big series ahead of us. ’

“We have games against them in the Asia Cup and World Cup and I hope we can overcome the mistakes. Bangladesh lost the first match by 17 runs due to rain and 142 runs in the second. The second was Bangladesh’s biggest loss to Afghanistan by a margin. In both the matches, Bangladesh’s batting was shaky and the batsmen failed to match themselves.

Apart from Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan, no one could handle Afghanistan’s two spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. In particular, they struggled to understand Rashid’s googly.

Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Liton Das, who have been in great rhythm recently, have understood how difficult it is to face quality bowlers in international cricket. Shantha and Liton scored most of the runs on batting-friendly wickets. But in the second ODI, the wicket was not helpful – it is not that. Afghanistan scored a huge total of 331 runs for 9 wickets on this wicket. But Rashid made the difference. He makes the wicket difficult. Apart from Shakib and Mushfiqur, the lack of courage of Bangladesh cricketers against the opposition leg-spinners is evident.

However, Shakib can only score 25 runs. Shakib has shown how to handle Rashid on the way to playing this short innings. Mushfiqur struggled at one end and scored 69 runs before being dismissed as the last batsman.
Such a loss seems to have been a blessing for the team. Miraz said that each player can now plan differently about how to handle a particular bowler.

“One of the good things is that we have a chance now. Losing this series means we can work on where we were lacking and where we need to improve. Since we have games against them in the World Cup and Asia Cup, we can plan the batsmen to play. Which bowlers can we target or how can we stop their batsmen? Since we have three months of the World Cup and one-and-a-half months of the Asia Cup, each player can plan differently. It’s good that we have time. ’

In Miraz’s view, losing a series did not make Bangladesh a bad team in ODIs. “I said in a press conference earlier that if we do badly in this series, it doesn’t mean we have become a bad team. We have a very good record and we have qualified for the World Cup. Our team combination is good and the players are in good shape. All in all, we are confident. ’