Bangladesh's batting coach Neil McKenzie has on Sunday (January 26) expressed his disappointment at the players’ mindset and rued the lack of intent from his batsmen after they suffered two crushing defeats to go down 0-2 in the three-match T20I series in Pakistan.
He admitted that Bangladesh has a lot of inexperience squad at the moment but they have been told to play with a bit more hunger and fearlessness along with rotating the strike and minimizing the dot ball percentage in the last couple of years but he didn’t see that so far in the Pakistan series.
McKenzie, who opted against touring Pakistan with the Tigers for T20Is and has been working with the Test specialists in Dhaka, said Bangladesh batsmen need to change their mindset and jump out of the box and follow the "no fear" mantra by head coach Russell Domingo.
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The tourists could only manage 141 and 136 runs in the first two games of the three-match T20Is series, playing out 45 and 47 dot balls respectively in Lahore.
As per reports in Cricbuzz, McKenzie said, “You got to know your game, rotate the strike and then go with your boundary options. There's a lot of inexperience in the squad at the moment. We knew that was going to be the case before we got there, but still, it is disappointing.”
He further explained, “I think we missed out on a good start the other day (in the first T20I). What's been disappointing for me has been the intent. We have been working so hard in the last couple of years on the rotation of strike, putting the bowlers under pressure, where you are standing, making him bowl to where you want him to bowl. But I haven't seen too much of those in the last T20s.
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The intent, looking to be a little bit more hungry, really playing with that ‘no fear’ that Russell [Domingo] and everybody tries to install in the players. It is human nature. You have a few young guys and some guys who are getting back. I want the guys to try to be the best in the world, or be the best Bangladesh batsman. I think that’s what we are trying to install. We are making progress. But it has been a little bit frustrating. There’s a lot of pressure on the guys to perform and stay in the side which is understandable, but hopefully, they all understand that they are getting the backing from all the selectors and coaches. They just have to go out there and play.”
He signed off by saying, “There is no doubt that Bangladesh is full of very talented cricketers but we need a little bit more consistency, a little bit more intent. If I got an 80, why can't I follow it up with 100 or 140 and 200. So, I just want a little bit more selfishness and a little bit more hunger.”
(With Cricbuzz/New Age Inputs)
