Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo on Monday (January 18) revealed that the young left-hander Nazmul Hossain Shanto will replace Shakib al Hasan at no. 3 as the ace all-rounder will bat at no.4 in the upcoming three-match ODI series against West Indies starting January 20.
Shakib batted at no.3 for Bangladesh in the last few years and had a superb record, scoring 1177 runs at a brilliant average of 58.58 in 23 games. The southpaw also had a stellar World Cup in 2019 at no.3 as he scored 606 runs in eight innings with an average of 86.57 for Bangladesh in England.
In order to have good maturity and experience in the middle-order, Domingo has decided to opt for a more experienced middle order with Shakib, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Mahmudullah at nos. 4, 5, and 6 respectively while Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das continue to open the batting for Bangladesh.
The head coach has opted for changes in the batting line-up in order to have well settled and established line-up before the upcoming 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
Domingo told the media at a press conference on Monday: “It is great to have Shakib back. He had an unbelievable World Cup at No 3. At the moment I am probably thinking of having the experienced players of four, five, and six being Shakib, Mushfiq, and Riyad. It gives us good maturity and experience in the middle-order. We know playing in the sub-continent where the middle-order is so important.”
He further added, “Shakib hasn’t played international cricket in a while so batting at No 4 would give him the breathing space coming back into the side. We know he is a world-class player. This batting line-up is not set in stone. There’s a long way to go for the World Cup. We need to look at various options before we settle on a batting line-up.”
Meanwhile, the coach also believes that Shanto is in good touch to feel the void at the crucial No.3 spot as Bangladesh is looking to develop young players like Shanto at the top.
The 46-year-old continued, “Obviously, Shanto has been in really good form. I just feel that there’s a good young player in Shanto who is in really good touch at the moment. He played in the last series against Zimbabwe and we need to make sure that we develop some young batters. In the sub-continent, the top three is the best place to develop young batsmen.”
Well, Bangladesh also has another option at top order in Soumya Sarker who has played as an opener for a long time, but Domingo wants to use Soumya’s clean hitting ability at No.7 in the ODI cricket.
He further explained, “At the moment I think the top-order is pretty established with Tamim and Liton opening the batting. We want to maybe have a look at Soumya in the middle order. We are trying to find someone that can be a power hitter in the back-end of our innings, and maybe bowl a few overs.
At the moment we are looking at Soumya to finish games with Riyad. He has the experience and he is a clean hitter of the ball. I have a lot of faith in his batting.
The World Cup seems to be three years away but we know how quickly that goes. This is the first step towards the World Cup. There might be one or two changes in batting positions with some guys batting in positions they haven't batted before.
But at least six to eight months before the World Cup, that batting line-up has to be settled and established. They have to play in the position that they will play in the World Cup.”
Domingo is also aiming to overcome Bangladesh’s dependency on their spinners and will try to strike a balance in the upcoming home ODI series against West Indies having added six pace-bowling options - Mustafizur Rahman, Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Shoriful Islam, and Hasan Mahmud in their line-up as they are going to start their preparations for upcoming World Cups.
He further added, “It is a big series for us. World Cup qualifying points are up for grabs. We want to make sure that we can start our campaign really well. We are definitely focusing on one game at a time. We want to start the series well. It (the combination) depends very much on conditions.
We have Shakib in the side who will be bowling ten overs. In the sub-continent, you always want to have one other full-on spinner. We need to decide who that is going to be.”
Domingo signed off by saying, “You always want to bowl twenty overs of spin in sub-continent conditions. Maybe one or two part-timers. But you also need to make sure you have enough pacemen in case the wicket offers something to the fast bowlers. Particularly, it is the winter and the early start. There might be a bit of movement in the first hour with a little bit of dew and fog around. We need to make sure we cover both bases.”
(With Cricbuzz/Dhaka Tribune Inputs)
