Gotta agree with Coach here. We played to the situation yesterday all the way up to the Imrul dismissal. Then, came the superb deliveries, and there in nothing you can do about it. But, the most important thing that happened was the way Riyad-Shafiul assessed the situation and went about their way. The RR was never an issue and I was happy that they identified that correctly. Once Shafi took it to Swann on that over, the pressure was squarely back on England again. Sure, Anderson helped, but in previous years we would have perished even when the asking rate wasn't a factor. We won and that's what its all about. The PP wasn't an issue either. RR was always good, and during the last partnership, England had their fielders up anyway. So, we had an extended PP.
However, one thing is pretty clear to me, and that is our batting limitations. We have to bowl/field out of our skins every game to keep the opponents total within manageable target. If we can do that, I think we are always within a chance. In that sense, batting second is probably more preferable, since we would know the target at hand. Bowling in our conditions are our strength, and anything below 250 is manageable target. We get a good start, one decent partnership in the middle, and we should be able to pull it through with everybody else chipping in. As long as the batting remains a two man show ( Tamim_Sakib ), we will have a hard time chasing anything above 260, and 300 is probably still out of reach. Batting first and putting a big score is still tricky for us with the players that we have right now. Then, you have to take advantage of batting PP, good starts, big partnerships- all the factors that has to go in to construct a big innings. I think we are far away from all that still.
Bowl first. Bowl and field with a purpose. Restrict the opposition below 240. Put the pressure on them. Take the asking rate out of equation and we will win more than our share. That's where our one day team stands as of now. The day, when at least one of our top five on a consistent basis can score a ton every game ( or two big fifties ) will be the day we can think of winning from any situation.
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