BSS, Dhaka :
Bangladesh’s batting coach Ashwell Prince believes that the return of two vital players-Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das would benefit the side in many ways in the upcoming five-match T20 International series against New Zealand.
While their return would bolster the side batting strength after it suffered badly against Australia, they would also add experience in the side that looked utterly dejected in the time of difficulties.
According to Prince, their return would also turn Bangladesh a side to be blessed with a good combination of youth and experienced players.
“Return of Liton Das and Mushfiqur is vitally important for the team. Their return adds to the experience and communication between the more experienced and younger guys. The team has a good combination of experienced players and very exciting youthful players,” Prince said on Saturday during a virtual press conference.
“What really excites me about this Bangladesh team is that we have a good mix of experienced players and young players. Not just in batting department, but also in bowling department. We have some Under-19 World Cup winners, so they are bringing youthfulness and experience of being successful in a big tournament. It really feels as though there’s good connection of experience and youthfulness. There’s good quality in every department – fast bowling, spin bowling and batting,” he added.
Bangladesh had to taste some criticism from their own people after preparing an extremely slow and low track against Australia in the five-match T20 series earlier this month, which they won by 4-1. But critics argued as they took this series as a preparation for the T20 World Cup, playing in this sort of wicket would backfire.
Prince however indicated that in New Zealand series also, there is the chance that the pitch will be same.
“I am expecting similar conditions against New Zealand. The batsmen from Australia series had a nice discussion yesterday, sharing with guys like Liton Das and Mushfiqur (Rahim) who didn’t play in that series. These are experienced guys but they shared what worked and what we like to improve on from the Australia series, taking it into the New Zealand series coming up,” he pointed out, adding that the Bangladesh batsmen showed their capability of adaptability as per the merit of the pitch.
“I think one of the biggest differences between Zimbabwe and Australia series, is the difference in batting conditions. Adaptability is very important aspect to batting. I think the team adjusted well to the bouncy conditions in Zimbabwe. We were victorious in that series. Then coming home to Bangladesh conditions where we thrived in lower bounce and scoring rate.”
“Personally I am not really concerned about the opening batsmen. I think we had one or two good partnerships in Zimbabwe but conditions were tough against Australia. It is not easy to score boundaries frequently as you would in pitches where the ball is coming on. Adapting to the conditions is important. Partnership would be important. I think we have a strong competition in the opening position. I am sure Liton Das will get an opportunity in this position, as well.”
