Bangladesh national team missed out on an opportunity to test out their batting ahead of the T20 World Cup in their five-match Twenty20 International series against Zimbabwe as they once again opted to field first in the second match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Sunday.
The home side, who crushed the visitors by eight wickets in the first match on Friday to go up 1-0 in the series, also refused to bat first in the next fixture.聽
With the forthcoming ICC T2O World Cup in mind, Bangladesh could have used this series to test out their batting lineup by giving them a guaranteed 20 overs to gain some confidence and聽also聽work out where聽work was required.聽
However, by omitting to bat first repeatedly, they only revealed the lack of trust in the batting department, which may cost them in the global event.聽
The ninth edition of the ICC T20 World Cup聽is scheduled聽to begin on June 1 in the West Indies and USA.
Given their repeated reluctance to bat first, it appears as if the team management believes that there is a lack of firepower with the bat, which is why they are refusing to bat first as it may put them in situations where they might lose, which would be followed by denunciation from the cricketing fraternity as Zimbabwe have not even qualified for the T20 World Cup.
Generally, a side opts to bowl first due to bowling-friendly conditions or the dew having a say in the result. However, none of them have been the case in Chattogram so far.聽
Thus, questions of whether the team is in fear of criticism for their poor strike rate and聽also聽the shortage of firepower have come to the fore, and this unwillingness might cost them in the coming event.聽
It鈥檚 not like the hosts are doing something outstanding by choosing to bowl first. For instance, in the first game, they reduced the visitors to 41-7 inside 7.4 overs聽but聽their lack of a killer instinct paved the way for the tourists to rack up 124.聽
The same happened in the second game as well. Despite reducing the visitors to 42-5 in 10.2 overs, they couldn鈥檛 continue that flow in the middle, which allowed Zimbabwe to amass 138-7.
Chasing down such paltry totals won鈥檛 help them聽a聽least聽in the global event聽which聽is knocking at the door聽and聽their focus on winning 鈥� even against a team that did not qualify for the World Cup 鈥� rather than treating this series as an opportunity to test out their strengths and flaws, might cost them dearly.