Mahmudullah wants stable batting order in T20 team
The right-handed middle-order batsman was understanding of the lower-order batsman at six or seven and how they might get out trying to play a big shot in the “first ball and that would be perfectly okay”.
Bangladesh's twenty20 international (T20I) captain Mahmudullah Riyad wants to have a stable batting line-up where each player knows his role and plays accordingly.
Bangladesh take on Zimbabwe in the first of the three-match T20I from Monday at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
"Wherever the player bats, whether it's three or four, they have to think that they can play a particular role in the batting order and bat accordingly. I believe in this thing, especially in T20 cricket, one should be able to understand their role in batting. That makes their job easier when they come on to bat," Mahmudullah said at the pre-match press-conference at Mirpur on Sunday.
The right-handed middle-order batsman was understanding of the lower-order batsman at six or seven and how they might get out trying to play a big shot in the "first ball and that would be perfectly okay".
"I want to make sure that the players get a chance to perform and not worry about their position in the team if they don't have a good game. I want my team members to have their trust in me as captain and believe in my plans," he said.
The 34-year-old also understood that because of the short nature of the game, the batting order would sometimes need shuffling: "If the team requires, there would be shuffling in the batting-order but as a captain, I want there to be a stable batting order. The new players should obviously get a scope to perform and I believe that to be in good stead, you have to give players a chance."
Mahmudullah also didn't want to view Zimbabwe lightly as opponents in T20s as he believed they had "a very good batting lineup".
"The type of cricket we have been playing in the Test and then in the ODIs will give us confidence to do well. And if we can carry on in the same way we can achieve success here in the T20Is too," he said.
With the T20I World Cup later in the year, Mahmudullah wanted to start preparing a team with that in mind: "This is the right time to start building the team properly so that we can do well in the World Cup. If we can play step-by-step in each game and follow the process and get a few wins under our belt, it will give us the confidence to do well in the World Cup."
The skipper was expecting a batting-friendly wicket in Mirpur and expected 180 to be a par score: "The way our batsmen have been playing gives me confidence and the other players confidence to do well with the bat."
"Dew could also be a factor here and assessing the pitch properly will become very important here," Mahmudullah concluded.