Match strategy against Sri Lanka : Take a leaf out of Aussie book

[Miraz]

Bangladesh's next match in the Twenty20 World Cup is against Sri Lanka, it's a do or die match for us to stay alive in the competition and to prove that we are not in the super 8 to make up numbers, we belong there.

Todays timid performance not only shows the lack of planning from the batsmen but also highlights the need of a proper coach.

Taking a similar approach won't lead us anywhere. We have nothing to lose against Sri Lanka, a loss is always a loss and there is no use of respectable loss in international cricket. We must try to get 180+ and in that process if we get bundled out for 80, I don't see any harm in that. At least we are showing the positive intent required to survive at this level of cricket.

Australia were embarrassed by Zimbabwe and they came back strongly against England to keep themselves alive in the tournament. They went for all-out attack right from the beginning and the approach paid off. They always put the best batsman up in the order and we must follow it at least in the must win game.

We need a similar approach against Lankans. If we can't surprise them with something different, they will be clinical enough to inflict more painful defeat.

We need couple of changes in the team combination. Nazim, Farhad and Alok should be replaced by Juanid, Zia and Nadif.

We must use the powerplay (first 6 over) to give us the required momentum. To be honest except Aftab and Ashraful no other batsman has the ability to use the power play efficiently. We started well against South Africa because Aftab was there to score freely. Against Sri Lanka we must change the batting order to give Aftab and Ashraful the best opportunity to use the power play and face as many deliveries as possible.

We should go into the match with the following batting order..

1. Junaid
2. Aftab
3. Ashraful
4. Sakib
5. Tamim
6. nadif
7. Mushfiq
8. Mashrafe
9. Zia
10. Razzak
10. Rasel.

We might lose early wickets but it will give us the best shot to post some competitive total. We have to take risk to win, playing like Kitten will not give us any chance to win at International cricket.

About the replacement, we have seen enough of Nazim, Alok and Farhad in the tournament, others should get a chance to prove them and they cannot do anything worse.

[sandpiper]

Originally Posted by Miraz
Taking a similar approach won't lead us anywhere. We have nothing to lose against Sri Lanka, a loss is always a loss and there is no use of respectable loss in international cricket. We must try to get 180+ and in that process if we get bundled out for 80, I don't see any harm in that. At least we are showing the positive intent required to survive at this level of cricket.

Couldnt agree with you Miraz bhai at this point. It is ignominious to get packed for a low score. We can always reassess our match strategy (according to the situation) and improvise to make the best out of 20 overs. If we lose 5 wkts for 30 runs in 6 overs, there is no point slogging further (attempting reckless shots)in the next 8/10 overs. That would be suicidal.

Originally Posted by Miraz

We need a similar approach against Lankans. If we can't surprise them with something different, they will be clinical enough to inflict more painful defeat.

We need couple of changes in the team combination. Nazim, Farhad and Alok should be replaced by Juanid, Zia and Nadif.

Agreed on these issues. Srilankans are ruthless and they can do anything if we are not proactive on our purpose. Change of approach is a must.

[Murad]

I like your team except Tamim. I want to see nazim in place of Tamim. Nazim is usally a no.3 batsman in all form of cricket. but he opened in the practice matches in bd and did well.. since then he became an opener.. i want to see him in his place. Aftab opening..with junaid..

i'm still confused if we will see junaid in any of the remaining matches. don't know whats the problem with ashraful & the management. akram chacha is there but doing nothing. hes giving his nephew more chances than he deserves.

Junaid deserves a chance more here. he must play in the next game..i think junaid wouldnt do any worse than kapali if he play at 6. our selectors are crazy and out of their mind..they selected alok for no reason in 20/20 competition.

ziaur is a batter bowler than reza as i read in some news. hes also a late order hard hitter. so why not give him a chance to prove him??

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by sandpiper
Couldnt agree with you Miraz bhai at this point. It is ignominious to get packed for a low score. We can always reassess our match strategy (according to the situation) and improvise to make the best out of 20 overs. If we lose 5 wkts for 30 runs in 6 overs, there is no point slogging further in the next 8/10 overs. That would be suicidal.

Yap, you can definitely disagree.

I beg to differ with you that "It is ignominious to get packed for a low score". Every team is judged by their approach. If you try to survive right from the beginning and get bundled out for a low score, that's pathetic. But if you are starting positively (which is the only chance of winning here) and in that process get bundled out lowly, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

if you check scorecards, Pakistan and England has the lowest totals against Australia but they also won maximum matches against them.

At international cricket if you take risk, one day you win and the other day you lose. And if you don't take risk, you keep losing. Simple.

[Gowza]

bangladesh should go with a simple batting plan i.e. try and hit 2 boundaries an over and pick up singles with the rest of the balls. obviously when going for boundaries pick the right ball and the right shot (don't just flash the bat at everything)

[Antora]

I think bd should try and play their natural game, by this i dont mean getting out every ball! they should plan to hit a 6 or a 4 every over and if they are batting first they should not be hurrying to make a big total...if they can score any where near 170..it will be a competition. If bd are bowling first, they should not open with razzak, he should be left for the last few overs and ash should not ball..he shuld let "known bwlers" bowl first and if they cant do anything then the may give it ago.
over all i agree mostly what you have said miraz bhaiya, i especially like your team, but i dont think tamim should be number 5.

[sandpiper]

In fact I didnt intend to mean that. I concur with you that approach is important in international arena but the question is WHAT KIND OF APPROACH . Dont you think that the approach of our skipper is showy(flamboyant) rather than pragmatic optimism ? Mohammad Ashraful is the most talented batsman in the present squad but he is losing his temper (owing to his unrestrained approach) frequently and throwing out his wicket for nothing. Can you remeber an occasion when Ash was out in a genuine good delivery?
Not only Ash, plenty of BD frontliners have the same problem once they get 30/40 beside their name. If you look at the highlights of the New Zealand batting against India (sundays 1st match) you will mark the difference. They scored a mammoth 190 against a fairly good Indian attack. But they never seemed to rush for callow shot selection. I am talking of McCullum, McMillan and Oram. They played one ball at a time and got after the bowler with an well balanced posture. You cant hit 3/4 sixes in an over with a premeditated mind to do so at this level. Batting is not only a hand eye coordination, its more of a mind game where responsibility is a must. Even if you look at the Ireland innings against Bangladesh during their world cup upset at Bridgetown, you will find the kind of responsilbility and maturity from their top order specially from OBrien and Portfield to improvise and optimize their resource. We are badly lacking this material in this generation, even the cricketers like Athar Ali Khan, Akram Khan, Aminul Islam and Minhazul Abedin used to have this simple common sense. You will find that most of the BD batsmen look more like a foolish than sorry once they get out and make the way to the pavilion.

My bottom line is we have to use common sense on the field. It cannot be instilled by any tutor or program, it comes from within.

Originally Posted by Miraz
Yap, you can definitely disagree.

I beg to differ with you that "It is ignominious to get packed for a low score". Every team is judged by their approach. If you try to survive right from the beginning and get bundled out for a low score, that's pathetic. But if you are starting positively (which is the only chance of winning here) and in that process get bundled out lowly, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

if you check scorecards, Pakistan and England has the lowest totals against Australia but they also won maximum matches against them.

At international cricket if you take risk, one day you win and the other day you lose. And if you don't take risk, you keep losing. Simple.

[Spitfire_x86]

Originally Posted by sandpiper
In fact I didnt intend to mean that. I concur with you that approach is important in international arena but the question is WHAT KIND OF APPROACH . Dont you think that the approach of our skipper is showy(flamboyant) rather than pragmatic optimism ? Mohammad Ashraful is the most talented batsman in the present squad but he is losing his temper (owing to his unrestrained approach) frequently and throwing out his wicket for nothing. Can you remeber an occasion when Ash was out in a genuine good delivery?

As if Sachin, Ponting, Smith et. al always get out to magnificent deliveries and never throw away their wicket in shorter version of the game!

In this 20-20 format, chickenhearted approach to the game is far more destructive than a bit less restrained shot selection. Did you see how the Aussie batsmen make good 20-20 bowlers like Rasel, Razzak look ordinary today? They didn't show any undue respect to the bowling.

We are badly lacking this material in this generation, even the cricketers like Athar Ali Khan, Akram Khan, Aminul Islam and Minhazul Abedin used to have this simple common sense. You will find that most of the BD batsmen look more like a foolish than sorry once they get out and make the way to the pavilion.

Oh yeah, do you go back to that era when frequency of "sommanjonok porajoy" was less than the frequency of at this moment?

[Spitfire_x86]

In one line, the approach is trying to score as many as possible in the early overs. To do that, you need quality players and positive approach. Both are absolutely necessary. We have the proven quality in Aftab and Ash and potential in Nazimuddin/Junaed. Sakib is fine as #5. The real problem is with Tamim, and rest of the BD batting starting from #6.

[Foozy]

Originally Posted by antora93
I think bd should try and play their natural game, by this i dont mean getting out every ball! they should plan to hit a 6 or a 4 every over and if they are batting first they should not be hurrying to make a big total...if they can score any where near 170..it will be a competition. If bd are bowling first, they should not open with razzak, he should be left for the last few overs and ash should not ball..he shuld let "known bwlers" bowl first and if they cant do anything then the may give it ago.
over all i agree mostly what you have said miraz bhaiya, i especially like your team, but i dont think tamim should be number 5.

agree 100%

THIS IS MY 100TH POST BY THE WAY....:d:d:d:d:d:d

[GuruTM]

As if Sachin, Ponting, Smith et. al always get out to magnificent deliveries and never throw away their wicket in shorter version of the game!

In this 20-20 format, chickenhearted approach to the game is far more destructive than a bit less restrained shot selection. Did you see how the Aussie batsmen make good 20-20 bowlers like Rasel, Razzak look ordinary today? They didn't show any undue respect to the bowling.

Spitty. Spitty. Spitty. Just amazing.

[Baundule]

Strategies:
1. Win the toss.
2. Bowl first.
3. Get Jayasuriya out in the 1st ov
4. Don't drop catches
5. Restrict SL within 160
6. No Tamim in the opening plz.
7. Hit from the begining, without closing eyes of course
8. Never slow down
9. Make .5s in to singles and 1.5s in to 2s.
10. Win in 19.1 ov

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by Baundule
Strategies:
1. Win the toss.
2. Bowl first.
3. Get Jayasuriya out in the 1st ov
4. Don't drop catches
5. Restrict SL within 160
6. No Tamim in the opening plz.
7. Hit from the begining, without closing eyes of course
8. Never slow down
9. Make .5s in to singles and 1.5s in to 2s.
10. Win in 19.1 ov

Bhaijan, 1, 2 & 3 are not in our hands. Completely agree with the rest.

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Baundule
Strategies:
1. Win the toss.
2. Bowl first.
3. Get Jayasuriya out in the 1st ov
4. Don't drop catches
5. Restrict SL within 160
6. No Tamim in the opening plz.
7. Hit from the begining, without closing eyes of course
8. Never slow down
9. Make .5s in to singles and 1.5s in to 2s.
10. Win in 19.1 ov

Spot on ...

I just hope we win the toss and get Jayasuriya out early, before worrying about Tharanga, Sanga, Mahela, Chamara, Dillu, Vaas, Mubarak and Maharoof. We have to keep it very tight in terms of both bowling and fielding, and the margin of error needs to be close to zero for us to restrict Sri Lanka within a manageable total.

Batting wise, we must balance positive intent with smart decisions as required by the situation in the middle. Our batting order, irrespective of who's in it, must function as a cohesive unit by understanding and executing the role each batsman needs to play. Starting from the top, our openers can neither sacrifice too many runs in order to preserve their wickets and create dangerous pressure upon themselves and those to follow, nor sacrifice early wickets and partnerships in order to put a few, ultimately useless runs on the board, and create equally dangerous pressure on the team. First two dominoes in a symbiotic series, where each domino has a mind of its own, are extremely critical. If they do their job and build a useful partnership, everybody else has the opportunity to perform theirs better.

Simply put, we need a balance between the Crackhead-mode of batting that predictably cost us the match against South Africa, and the Drunken-mode that cost us the most recent match just as predictably. Until we achieve that balance, just rotating players in the Jodi laigga jay-mode is unlikely to make a difference. Replacing "non-performers" like Tamim, Nazim, Alok, Farhad and Mashrafe will not do us much good if the team as a whole continues to stray from the script and perform inconsistently. Tinkering with the batting order might. I'd bring Zunaed -that's how our # 31 spells his name I just found out from a Prothom Alo photograph - and have him open with Aftab Ahmed who has been our "virtual" opener anyway thanks to early loss of wickets. I'll have Ashraful bat at number 3, either Tamim or Nazimuddin at number 4, Alok at number 5, Shakib at number 6, Mushy at number 7, Mashrafe at number 8, Farhad at number 9, Razzak at number 10, and Rasel at number 11.

Each batsman will be held accountable to the instruction that they must either perform their specifically defined roles within a particular time-frame or get out, and the senior players in the middle must assume the responsibility to communicate such instructions in a timely fashion.

A decent plan IMHO, but the question remains, which Bangladesh will show up tomorrow? The minnow? Or the giant-killer who resents being called one?

[Baundule]

Miraz bhai and Sohel bhai,

actually, it needs some luck as well to win matches, specially for teams like us. Sri Lanka is the toughmost opponent. We should be positive and try for the best.

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Baundule
Miraz bhai and Sohel bhai,

actually, it needs some luck as well to win matches, specially for teams like us. Sri Lanka is the toughmost opponent. We should be positive and try for the best.

Couldn't agree more.

[BangladeshFan]

I think there is a difference between positive approach and throwing your bat around at everything. Look at tamim, he tries to hit every ball out for a 6 and cant middle a single one. If he cant hit the ball, he can just take the pace off ,run quickly and give the strike back to his partner. This is sensible batting which even a club cricketer knows. He probably thinks too highly of himself and his akram chachu is doing nothing.

We have both openers struggling and first 6-7 overs lost without much score and then it invariably falls on aftab and ash to rebuild. Why not give junaed a chance?? Or ashraful probably believes in playing the same 11. Well, this team combination is not working, ash may think openers scoring at 4 runs per over gives them a platform , but in reality it will give them just a respectable defeat. Against australia , it was not even that, it was a plain thrashing, someone needs to tell ashraful that.

[cricket_dorshok]

I don't get why Junaed was not selected for a single match. Junaed is one of the most successful player in the domestic circuit in this version of game. Does Ash still feel his Sonagoan's defeat where he was angry with Junaed?

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by cricket_dorshok
I don't get why Junaed was not selected for a single match. Junaed is one of the most successful player in the domestic circuit in this version of game. Does Ash still feel his Sonagoan's defeat where he was angry with Junaed?

I hope I'm wrong ... but Bingo ?

[mali007]

Originally Posted by cricket_dorshok
I don't get why Junaed was not selected for a single match. Junaed is one of the most successful player in the domestic circuit in this version of game. Does Ash still feel his Sonagoan's defeat where he was angry with Junaed?

Not only Ashraful , I think Akram still has the same feeling against Junayed for his championship defeat of the domestic twenty20!!! Anyway, Australia defeated us with their well planned bowlling ------- short pitch with variation of pace. Most of our batsmen like overpitch ball to play frontfoot and lofted drive, we have weakness in backfoot drive . I think SL will take the same strategy. So, we have to change our batting line up if we are batting first or chasing a big total ----- in both situations we have to keep run rate 9 to 10 from the very first over. So I will suggest Ash. , Aftab and Sakib to bat in no. 1 , 2 & 3 positions . If Gibbs can open why not Aftab or Ash.

[zainab]

I think if all the above posts are sent to the cricketers in SA, they might pay heed.
We can discuss and plan until the cows come home, but we are not the selectors and cricketers who are playing the match.

BD cricketers forget to use their smarts at times, and at times they can be brilliant.
Lets hope that they score a higher score against SL as against OZ.
Dont raise your hopes with the SL match, these guys are also terminators and play smart cricket. They have Vass, Malinga and Fernando who are good seamers, and their batsmen are dependable and play good shots.
BD has recently played so many matches against them, so should know their strengths and weaknesses. They recently played against Pak. and did not do badly, so let us have some hope.

[fai_hasan]

there is no way they should take Nazimudding. what a loser. i didn't see any spark in this batsman. not even a single quality shot. class is something that you can see, or feel. just like aftab or ashraful. if they plan ten balls, you would find out two three quality shots.

[fai_hasan]

i don't know how many extra player bangladesh has, but they must change nazimudding and alok kapali. mushfiqur rahim must bat at number 5 unless its 15th over. Mashrafee needs to be checked at number7, not before that. Farhad reza - nothing special so far. Rasel rocks. Razzak is good. Sakib needs to work on in his batting. He can try opening with Tamim.

[Dhrubo]

we should do this:
Batting:
first 5 overs:hit as much as you can
next till the 15th over:try to play agressively but a bit sensibly too
then from the 15th over to the 20th:hit everything and dont care about the wickets,be reckless

Bowling:
from the 1st over to the 10th:try to be very agressive and try taking wickets
from the 10th over to the 20th:keep it very very tight,as much as possible

fielding:
dont drop catches and take care of each and every runout oppertunities

my team:
1.tamim
2.nazim
3.aftab
4.ashraful (c)
5.mushfiq (wk)
6.shakib
7.nadif
8.ziaur rahman
9.mashrafe (vc) (2nd bowler)
10.razzak
11.rasel (1st bowler)

[sadi]

If I am not mistaken, Junaed is one of the better players of rising deliveries. In 20-20 domestic finals, he was pulling and hooking the ball with ease and he must play.