Team Preview: Bangladesh

By Gokul Gopal



During World T20 2007:

Bangladesh had a dream start to their T20 World Cup campaign when they defeated the West Indian side in their first match, taking the team to the next round of the tournament. However, they could not handle the likes of South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the second round and they headed back home with just the one victory.

T20 Stats:

Bangladesh have played a total of 10 Twenty20 games till date and have lost 7 matches. Their three wins came against Kenya, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Strengths:

The main strength of the team lies in their ability to surprise the opposition. Always the under-dogs, Bangladesh are known to cause upsets for the major teams. While India experienced this during the 2007 World Cup in the 50 overs version of the game, West Indies were struck by the Bangla lightning during the 2007 T20 World Cup. Led by a young captain Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh has a unit of young players like Shakib Al Hasan, Junaid Siddique and Raqibul Hasan, who have the ability to post big scores on their own. The bowling department has the likes of Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain and Abdur Razzak who have the ability to put the opposition batsmen in a spot of bother.

Weakness:

Though they are a team full of youngsters, Bangladesh have not been able to play as a unit. When put under pressure, the recent past has shown that the Bangladeshi batsmen were unable to cope with it, leading to a collapse in the batting. Also, the bowlers have not had a good outing in the recent times and they will have to bowl out of the skin in order to contain the Sehwags, Yuvrajs and and Rainas.

Opportunity:

Placed in group A, Bangladesh have an easy offering with a team such as Ireland in their group. with the Indian team also being wary of Bangla's abilities, they have the ideal opportunity to put the opposition under pressure. One more notable thing about the Bangladesh squad is that there is no cricketer above the age of 26 in the team. Hence, the young blood would have all the enthusiasm while taking the field.

Threats:

The new ball bowling is under the scanner with Mortaza going for runs during his 1 game IPL stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders. Also he does not have a good partner to share the new ball with. Another threat for the team is that there are chances for them to think that they have an easy passage into the next round and thereby taking their match against Ireland lightly.

Squad:

Mohammad Ashraful (c), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Rubel Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun

Quotable Quotes:

It's been a good workout for us. This is a format in which any side can beat the other. It's not a lottery but everything depends on how a team plays on that particular day: Bangladesh captain Ashraful after losing the warm-up games.