Bangladesh is thinking about opening with Mushfiqur Rahim in the upcoming Asia Cup as they are not ready to move Afif Hossain from the number four position in the shortest format while they picked Anamul Haque and Parvez Hossain for the opening position in their 17-member squad.
Bangladesh is thinking about opening with Mushfiqur Rahim in the upcoming Asia Cup as they are not ready to move Afif Hossain from the number four position in the shortest format.
Bangladesh picked Anamul Haque and Parvez Hossain for the opening position in their 17-member squad while their regular opener batter Liton Das is unavailable due to an injury.
The team management didn’t pick Soumya Sarkar or Nayeem Sheikh as the other opener as they are very much aware of their deficiencies against spinners considering they will confront spin-heavy sides Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in the group phase.
Cricbuzz understands the team management is supposed to sit with Mushfiqur in a little while to tell him about their arrangement regarding promoting him to the top of the order.
Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud told Cricbuzz on Sunday (August 14) that they are genuinely considering promoting Mushfiqur at the top considering he has the huge experience of taking care of both pace and spin.
The veteran, who is making a return to the T20 side, has up to this point opened once in his T20I career, against Afghanistan in a tri-series game at home where he made only 5.
“We are thinking of promoting Mushfiqur at the top in the Asia Cup because he is vastly experienced in handling spin and pace and we feel he can be a very good option,” said Mahmud.
“We had the option of picking Nayeem and Soumya but didn’t go for them as their ability to handle spin is not that great. Parvez is there but we need to see whether he can handle spinners like Mujeeb or Rashid or not.
“If we feel that Mushfiqur looks to be the best option we might go with him and I think it can be a good move for him as well considering he will be getting 120 balls and if he gets going from the start we are likely to post a big total on the board.”
On Monday. Mahmud insisted Afif will be given a run at the number 4 slot which further suggests that Mushfiqur’s move to the top is imminent.
“We will give him (Afif) a chance there ( at four in T20s),”
Mahmud told reporters.
“We are thinking Afif in a specific role and he is a dynamo. I think he is very confident and really played well in the last two series and even batted well in the ODIs. We want to give Afif his place because he is our future.
“The most important thing is that he is attacking and we want that in our team and he is turning out to be an important player for Bangladesh and it is our responsibility to give him that opportunity.”