Bangladesh : Team Analysis

Cricket fans across the globe, irrespective of their nationality, age, and extent of passion for the game, have an opinion about Bangladesh's cricket and in most cases, they have strong opinions. Some feel they don’t deserve Test match status. Others think that they must continue playing Test cricket because teams in the past too took decades to perform well, consistently.

So, Bangladesh’s cricket always gets noticed. People watch them play. People laud them, occasionally. People criticise them, more often.

People are ready to judge them once again, on the basis of their performance in the World Cup. Bangladesh have their work cut out. They have not played well in the last year or so. They blanked Zimbabwe 5-0 in a series. The rest was pretty glum. They made 326 and lost. They bowled out the opposition for 105 and still lost. There lies the worry: the batting and the bowling department has not, for once, clicked together.

Mashrafe Mortaza doesn’t have much scope to complain about the team he has got. The fast bowling department is raw and at the same time promising. Taskin Ahmed is only 19 but is already a sensation. Al-Amin Hossain can be expensive but he can also pick up important wickets. Mortaza has to use (and tackle) him with tact.

Taijul Islam will be the specialist spinner. He is the 1936785^th Bangladesh left arm spinner and, like most of his predecessors, looks to tie the batsman down before forcing them to commit a costly mistake.

The batting department is strong. Tamim Iqbal has always been pivotal to Bangladesh’s success and there is no reason we will see an exception this time around.

Mushfiqur Rahim is currently enjoying the form of his life. His footwork and temperament both have improved by leaps and bounds in the last eighteen months or so. The Haque duo (Mominul and Anamul) has shown plenty of promise and they would be eager to deliver on the greatest stage of them all.

Shakib-Al-Hasan is the best all-rounder in ODI cricket right now. Bangladesh needs him to bowl ten tight overs and then score useful runs, to have any chance of progressing to the knock out stages. Shakib knows what his country expects from him and, so far, he has delivered well under immense pressure. The whole of Bangladesh will pray that he continues to do so.

Bangladesh’s team is good on paper. But, they have often faltered in the basic things and gifted matches to the opponents. A dropped catch, a terrible misunderstanding while running between the wickets, a tactical blunder, etc have made them pay dearly. They have often played good cricket for over 70% of a match’s duration, only to mess it all up in the final moments of the match.

Bangladesh needs to address these issues. They can’t turn all things into their favour in a fortnight but the effort must be visible in the mega event down under.

They should back themselves to beat Scotland and UAE. They have beaten England in the last World Cup but the conditions for that match was very different to what it will be this time. They have very little chance against Australia at Brisbane and against New Zealand at Hamilton. They will have to play exceptionally well in at least one of the remaining matches against Sri Lanka and England. It will be surprising if they reach the knock-out stage.

The Tigers in the past have done well when no one expected anything good from them. They have received plenty of flak from the supporters and the experts, which might well act as a blessing in disguise for them. It has now come down to just whether they can ride on the hunger inside to produce meaningful performances that all of us can appreciate or not.

Squad : Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Al-Amin Hossain, Anamul Haque (wk), Arafat Sunny, Mahmudullah, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed

Batting and bowling potential charts indicate the percentage contribution of each player in the team.

 

Key Batsmen : Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Tamim Iqbal

Key Bowlers : Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan

Big Hitters : Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque

Most Experienced Player : Mashrafe Mortaza

Darkhorses : Soumya Sarkar, Arafat Sunny

Team Average Age : 25 years

Oldest Player : Mashrafe Mortaza (31 years)

Youngest Player : Taskin Ahmed (19 years)

Bangladesh will be playing two warm-up games against Pakistan and Ireland at Sydney on 9th Feb and 12th Feb respectively.

Fixtures for Bangladesh in World Cup 2015 :
 

Date & Time	Match Details	Coverage
Wed Feb 18 (D/N) 03:30 GMT | 14:30 local 09:00 IST	7th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v Bangladesh Manuka Oval, Canberra
Sat Feb 21 (D/N) 03:30 GMT | 13:30 local 09:00 IST	11th Match, Pool A - Australia v Bangladesh Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane
Thu Feb 26 (D/N) 03:30 GMT | 14:30 local 09:00 IST	18th Match, Pool A - Bangladesh v Sri Lanka Melbourne Cricket Ground
Thu Mar 5 22:00 GMT (prev day) 11:00 local | 03:30 IST	27th Match, Pool A - Bangladesh v Scotland Saxton Oval, Nelson
Mon Mar 9 (D/N) 03:30 GMT | 14:00 local 09:00 IST	33rd Match, Pool A - Bangladesh v England Adelaide Oval
Fri Mar 13 (D/N) 01:00 GMT | 14:00 local 06:30 IST	37th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v Bangladesh Seddon Park, Hamilton

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