With the love and expectations of a blossoming nation trying to find their foot step in global context, the Bangladesh World Cup squad is heading for ICC’s premier 50-over tournament in England this summer. From the perspective of World Cup preparation, this has been an ideal World Cup for Bangladesh. A Tri-nation win, for it’s first multi-nation tournament trophy, must be a moral boasting effect on a team which has very little past success. Being outwitted by their opponents almost always away from home, the Tigers in Green is heading towards the 2019 Cricket World Cup with the sweet memory of reaching the Champions Trophy Semi-Final in the same country couple of years back. Still, the question on everyone's minds is, will Bangladesh’s 'Green Tigers' rise to the challenge and finally get rid of the minnow tag? The stage is set for Bangladesh to announce itself in the cricket landscape, let’s take a little walk in the path of Bangladesh’s upcoming World Cup journey. 

By MMHS (25th May, 2019)

Considering 14 of the 15 players almost select themselves, this is the best squad that Bangladesh could have put into World Cup. May be, it could have been better with Taskin in it, but this is what is there and Bangladesh must find their best combination for the starting XI. The think tank is likely to use a batting heavy combination with Miraz and Saifuddin occupying No. 8 & No. 9 spots, which does make the bowling weaker but presuming the expected batting favourable conditions, it’s probably the safer choice, without the presence of stand-out bowlers. Before the tri-nation final, it was almost certain that Sabbir should start, but now there is healthy competition among batsmen. If everyone is available, probably Liton, Sabbir, Rubel and Jayed will be sitting in first couple of games. 


The Fixtures:

1. June 2nd, vs. South Africa at London (Oval)
2. June 5th, vs. New Zealand at London (Lord’s, D/N)
3. June 8th, vs. England at Cardiff
4. June 11th, vs. Sri Lanka at Bristol
5. June 17th, vs. West Indies at Taunton 
6. June 20th, vs. Australia at Nottingham
7. June 24th, vs. Afghanistan at Southampton
8. July 2nd, vs. India at Birmingham
9. July 5th, vs. Pakistan at London (Oval, D/N)

Bangladesh has sweet memories of Cardiff and Bristol among the venues. Apart from a very tight schedule in first week, this is an excellent list of fixtures, with three games at London, where Bangladeshi diaspora is dense. Also, the team must be happy to avoid northern venues like Leeds and Manchester, where it should swing more and the temperature is expected to be lower. The World Cup starts for Bangladesh with three tough games at the start and then ends with three Asian opponents, which should allow the players to compete better in latter stages if main players can maintain form and fitness. 


Strengths:

Obviously, it is a batting heavy squad and the strength lies in the experience of the senior batsmen, as well as the batting depth which might see Mashrafee batting at 10. Bangladesh being a new entrant, all five senior players debuted in their teens, which makes them look like veterans now, but Tamim, Shakib, Mushfique and Mahmudullah are actually in their prime age as batsmen. One of the positives of recent tri-nation final was that it was the youngsters who shone with the bat. Considering the weather forecast of this year’s English summer, spin could play a vital role in this World Cup and a spin attack of Miraz, Mosaddek and Mahmudullah led by Shakib should be quite handy. There is healthy competition for a few spots, which should keep fringe players on their toes.

But, the biggest strength of this Bangladesh team is the leadership of Mashrafee who has led with passion, authority and intelligence. He knows the ins and outs of every Bangladesh player as each of them debuted during his time and he has the intelligence to maximise the collective output of his resources. It’s quite a happy unit, and quite a focused unit; they do know who is in command. It’s one of the most stable squads in this World Cup and players do know about their roles and responsibilities; thus, Mashrafee’s task should be easier than any of his predecessors. 


Weaknesses:

The pace attack is the achilles heel of Bangladesh cricket for a long time now. Apart from lack of pace and limited skills, Bangladeshi pacers are lacking tournament fitness and will struggle for a breather in such a rigorous World Cup with 9 games in less than 35 days. Expectations from pacers were never that high, but here the Bangladesh team should think about damage control, rather than how much pacers can contribute in a World Cup expected to be high scoring and in dry conditions with very little conventional movement expected. Even for spin attack, absence of a genuine wrist spinner makes it quite monotonous and defensive. Bangladesh might strangle middle orders with accurate finger spin, but there is always a risk of facing a large partnership due to lack of penetration in the overall attack. 

Apart from the bowling attack, one glaring weakness of the Bangladesh squad is that it’s missing a couple of enforcing players with both bat and ball, who can change the game on their own in quick time. It’s a very steady unit, but a predictable unit as well, which makes it easier to plan against them. If Bangladesh is to punch above their weight, a couple of players have to break this barrier and make other teams fear them. Fitness was never Bangladesh’s strength and despite improvements in fielding, Bangladesh’s fielding is still not up to the mark of strength. 


Players to watch out for:

Bangladesh is a squad of two generations. There are five, six players with over a decade long experience and then there is the younger bunch of Miraz, Mustafiz, Mosaddek, Liton, Saifuddin, Jayed. In between generation, there is one player whom Bangladesh should eagerly expect to deliver – Soumya Sharker. A brilliant stroke maker with power and placement, who is in great touch recently, he is one player who can take a game away from many attacks within a few overs. Recently, he has started to bowl medium pace as well and he is easily the best fielder of this side. A shining Sharker can be that clutch player Bangladesh is searching desperately as the game changer. 

Apart from Sharker, players like Miraz, Mosaddek, Liton and Saifullah started their career when Bangladesh cricket had moved out of the initial hopeless days, which has made them more confident and aggressive. Big things are expected from Miraz, who should enjoy the dry conditions and abundance of left-handed batsmen in this World Cup. Also, this is the opportunity for Saifuddin to establish himself as a pace bowling all-rounder at least in Limited Over cricket, when there is a genuine lack of that rare breed of cricketers. 


Expectations:

For a surprise of cricket fraternity, Bangladesh has often delivered beyond expectations in ICC ODI events for last 12 years. Starting from making the Super Eight rounds in 2007 at the expense of India, Bangladesh did make the Semi Final of last ICC event hosted in United Kingdom, and Quarter Final in the last World Cup. It’s important for every team to enter one such global tournament with a positive vibe and confidence. For every team game, success often is determined by how the players complement each other during such tournaments and when they peak to their capabilities. If in a squad of fifteen, most of the players hit their peak together and support the few world class players, miracles can happen. 

It’s critical that Bangladesh must not miss out the crunch moments, as there will be a few defining moments when the team has to respond collectively. Despite a good build-up to the World Cup, Bangladesh will still be favourites only against Afghanistan, but this team has the potential to surprise a few teams; at the same time, they are suspect of surprising themselves as well. Obviously, being ranked 7th in world and a clear twenty ranking points behind the 5th team, Bangladesh is not expected to advance to the knock-out stages, but this is Bangladesh’s best ever World Cup squad, led by their best ever Captain as well and a semi-final spot isn’t beyond it’s reach.


Full squad:

Mashrafe Mortaza (c)
Shakib al Hasan (vc)
Tamim Iqbal
Mushfiqur Rahim
Mahmudullah Riyad
Soumya Sarkar
Sabbir Rahman
Mosaddek Hossain
Liton Das
Mohammad Mithun 
Mustafizur Rahman
Mehidy Hasan Miraz
Mohammad Saifuddin
Rubel Hossain
Abu Jayed

Discuss!