In span of a few days the Bangladesh team ended up winning their maiden T20 series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. According to the captain, Litton Das the availability for the first-class made these victories possible. Bangladesh started the year at a low but now they are finding their feets and winning two successive T20i series is proof for it.
After winning the series, Das credited his bowler and their availability as it made the series win possible against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
“We were facing a [players] crisis in the UAE and Pakistan [in May],” Litton said after winning the recent series against Pakistan.
“I didn’t get my best players during those two series. Taskin [Ahmed] wasn’t available. Mustafizur [Rahman] had left for the IPL. We are well aware of Mustafiz’s capability and how dangerous he can be for the opposition. We also had some players unavailable in Pakistan. Those who were there didn’t play up to the mark. I think we had the full set-up against Sri Lanka and Pakistan [this time]. We have to continue playing in such a manner.”
Litton credited his bowlers for the victories against Pakistan, who were bowled out for low totals in the first two games of the series. “The bowlers definitely had a huge role in this series win,” he said. “They bowled out Pakistan for 110 runs [in the first T20I]. Then we defended 133 runs [in the second T20I]. Those were big challenges. We bowled well even today.”
“I think we didn’t score enough in that game in Kandy, where 180 was a par score,” Litton said. “Sri Lanka were in attacking mode that day. I think we were behind on the execution of our plans. We didn’t bowl where we wanted to bowl at the Sri Lankan batters. We followed the same plan and came back into the series (against Sri Lanka).”
Together, Bangladesh’s fast bowlers have claimed 51 wickets, or 60.71% of all the wickets the team has claimed in T20Is this season. The size of the pace attack is another impressive aspect. In order to accommodate injuries, they have deployed eight pace bowlers this season; nevertheless, Bangladesh has also had the luxury of switching up their fast bowlers during the past two series.
Litton said workload management will be considered going forward, but they are also looking at a bowler’s skillset to determine their selection. “We are fortunate to have some more really good bowlers,” he said. “We don’t want to lose them early. We want to give them enough opportunities, but we also want to consider their health.
“Taskin is returning to cricket after a long injury break. We all know that he will have a high chance of more injuries if he plays continually. Shoriful is the same. He had a groin injury in Pakistan. He also had a similar problem in Sri Lanka. We have to determine who plays when and where.”
