Bangladesh’s Batting Woes Continue, Captain Admits Skills Gap
Bangladesh’s batting woes continue to haunt them as they struggle to consistently post competitive totals in T20 cricket. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has acknowledged the team’s shortcomings, admitting that they lack the skills and mentality to score 180-plus runs on a regular basis.
Shanto believes that the lack of high-scoring wickets in Bangladesh has contributed to their batting struggles. “We play on 140-150 wickets at home. Our batters don’t know how to score 180 runs,” he said. “I won’t blame just the wickets, but we have to consider skills and mentality.”
The team’s powerplay approach has also come under scrutiny, with the opening stands contributing only 69 runs in the last eight innings. Shanto emphasized the importance of a strong start, saying, “Powerplay is definitely a worry. The approach we talked about (before the game), it will be successful if we make a good start with the bat.”
Shanto defended his team’s performance against India, saying, “We are a better team than this. We haven’t done well in this format for a long time, but I don’t believe we are such a bad team.” However, he acknowledged the need for improvement, particularly in shot selection.
The captain also praised Indian pacer Mayank Yadav, who made an impressive debut on Sunday. “He is a good bowler,” Shanto said. “But we have some similar fast bowlers in the nets. I don’t think we were too worried about (Mayank Yadav).”
Bangladesh will need to address their batting issues if they want to compete with the top teams in T20 cricket. Shanto and his team have a lot of work to do, but they remain confident that they can turn things around.