Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons said that he was not concerned about the form of the top-order batters ahead of their do-or-die Champions Trophy clash against New Zealand at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium today.
Since the last series against the West Indies, there have been only one fifty and hundred partnerships for Bangladesh for the first two wickets. All other partnerships were below 30 runs except one.
The top order failed again in their first match against India as they lost two wickets for two runs and then became 35-5 at one stage before being rescued by Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali.
But Simmons wasn鈥檛 worried when his attention was drawn in the pre-match press conference to the fact that the top order was failing.
鈥楴ot concerned about their forms. I just think that we need to assess and put together our batting in the first 10 overs better than we did [in the last match],鈥� said Simmons.
鈥楾he middle order and lower order have done well. It鈥檚 now up to the top order to put things together in the first 10 overs, 15 overs, especially.鈥�
Simmons admitted that it was going to be a high-scoring pitch at Rawalpindi.
鈥楾his is a big scoring ground, and we saw the score in Lahore yesterday [Saturday]. So you鈥檙e looking at big scores here. You鈥檙e looking at 300 plus here,鈥� he said.
The former Caribbean all-rounder also backed his batters ability to put up a big total on a pitch that was expected to be high-scoring.
鈥榊eah, well, in the last five matches we鈥檝e gone to 300 a couple of times,鈥� said Simmons.
鈥楽o we have the ability to do it. In the last game we didn鈥檛 start well, and we got to 200. So as long as we start well, we can get there.鈥�
Bangladesh need to win the match to stay alive in the competition. And that too against an opposition that have been in red-hot form. But Simmons was unfazed about the pressure.
He said, 鈥楢ll the games in the tournament are pressure games. Top eight teams in the world. And you expect every game to be hard.鈥�
鈥榊es, they鈥檝e been playing well, but tomorrow is a new day. So we鈥檙e trying to make sure that they won鈥檛 play as well as they鈥檝e been playing,鈥� added Simmons.
Experienced Mahmudullah and fast bowler Nahid Rana didn鈥檛 feature in the first game for Bangladesh. According to Simmons, Mahmudullah was supposed to go through a fitness test on Sunday.
鈥榃ell, we are thinking a lot of different things. The first thing is, as I said before, we have to find out if Riyad [Mahmudullah] is fit, and then we can know how to balance out the team again after that,鈥� Simmons said.