“Bat long, bat deep” – the Bangladesh national team came to this conclusion after a long discussion following their rare, dramatic collapse that led to a 77-run defeat in the first match of the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
Ahead of the second match of the series on Saturday, Tanzid Hasan, the top scorer with his 62 runs off 61 balls, said on Friday that batters need to take responsibility and play long innings.
He also admitted that he should have been the one to play a long innings and get his team over the line.
“I don’t think I played well,” he said at the pre-match press conference at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
“I didn’t fulfill the team’s requirements. If I had fulfilled that, then I would have said that I played well.
But there is a chance to make a comeback. It’s a three-match series. One match is done. The next one is important. If we can make a comeback, then In Sha Allah, we will still be in the tournament,” he said.
“Look, we (Tanzid and Najmul) were building a good partnership. We were a bit unfortunate because they took a brilliant catch, and then the run-out happened. That was a turning point. If we could have added 30-40 more runs, the match would have been much easier,” he added.
Tanzid said that on a wicket that gets difficult in the later part of the innings, set batters need to take more balls and get the job done.
“The way the wicket is behaving, if someone gets set, he needs to play a long innings and take the team home. Me and Shanto bhai, the way we were batting at that time, if we could have stayed for another 10-15 overs, the match would have been much easier. Just one message for the next match: for those who are new to the wicket, it’s a bit difficult at first, but set batters need to bat long, bat deep, and take the game to the end,” he said.
“We had a long discussion about the last match. The coaches gave us some information. On a wicket like this, those who get set need to finish things off since it’s hard for new batters to adjust. They have top-quality spinners in their side, so those who are set need to bat as long as possible,” he added.
He also said that batters, especially the left-handers, need to stay at the crease a bit longer as Sri Lanka will bowl Wanindu Hasaranga through the middle overs, who is better known for his strength against right-hand batters.
“Against Hasaranga, the left-hand batters need to take as much strike as possible since he is not as effective against left-handers compared to right-handers. So, a few pieces of information like that were given to us, which might help us in the next match,” he explained.
Source: Daily Sun
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