Towhid Hridoy hit his Twenty20 International career-best knock of 57 runs on Tuesday,聽which strengthened聽his case for batting higher in the Bangladesh line-up.
The right-handed batter has been Bangladesh鈥檚 best batter in this series against Zimbabwe, as he scored 33 off 18 balls in the first game and 37 runs off 25 balls in the second, staying unbeaten on both occasions.
His career stats in this format, despite being a small sample size, beat any other batter from the country, as he has scored 358 runs in 15 innings, averaging 32.54 with a strike rate of 136.12, which is the highest among Bangladesh batters who have scored at least 300 runs.
Towhid also had a fantastic Bangladesh Premier League season earlier this year, amassing 462 runs in 14 innings at an average of 38.5 and a strike rate of 149.51.
However, his success in the BPL came while playing at number three for the Comilla Victorians, an opportunity he has yet to have with the national squad.
Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto [T20I strike rate of 111.30] plays at number three, while Towhid has been playing at number four in this series. It remains to be seen if he will continue to play there after Shakib Al Hasan [T20I strike rate of 122.40] returns to the XI.
With modern T20I requirements asking batters to play an attacking brand of cricket from the get-go, Bangladesh might head into the T20 World Cup with their statistically quickest-scoring batter down the order, meaning he might not even get to play more balls, which聽according聽to data, should fetch the team more runs.
With Liton Das and Shanto both struggling for form, Towhid could be the answer Bangladesh聽are聽looking for to score more and from earlier periods,聽something that聽was evident on Tuesday.
Towhid came to the crease in the fifth over, and despite the two openers both scoring below run-a-ball, he was fluent from the go and ended up scoring with a strike rate of 150, resulting in Bangladesh scoring 165-5.
Even in the previous two matches, while the top-order mostly struggled to get going, the 23-year-old had no trouble batting with an above-par strike rate, all of which only poses the question of why the batter is kept waiting until two or three wickets go down, which also hinders his freedom.
鈥業 bat in a position where I might have to play in the powerplay, at the death, or even in the first over. I try to play in whichever way the situation demands,鈥� he said after the game.
Bangladesh might get over the line at home despite arguably their best T20 batter batting down the order, but at the T20 World Cup, the later Towhid gets to the crease, it might hurt the Tigers more.
