Wicket, captaincy, batting plan- everything under question

Black soil wicket, the super over in the second One Day International (ODI), Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s captaincy—one controversy after another is unfolding in the series against the West Indies.

According to four former national team captains, the root causes behind these issues are a lack of planning and poor decision-making.

Rakibul Hasan, former national team captain

All teams prefer a wicket according to their strength at home ground. However, balls are turning a lot right from the start on the wicket in the West Indies series. Will we get the same type of pitch when we tour abroad? Definitely not.

The idea to earn praise by defeating a team on a wicket at home that the opponents are not used to stems from a negative mindset I believe. When you play abroad, you will have to face different types of wickets. If you only play on such wickets at home, performing well abroad will not be possible.

We have to prepare sporting wickets where we will get an edge and at the same time the wicket will not be too bad like this. I will fight—either I win or I lose. But if I rely on tricks and end up getting trapped by them myself, what’s the point?

Minhajul Abedin, Former national team skipper

It was the first time we played a Super Over in international cricket, which was a new experience for us. However, I would say that during the Super Over in the second ODI, the team management did not make the right call in selecting the batters. We had restricted West Indies to just 10 runs—a very achievable target—but we still could not win. That was our failure.

There is also much discussion about Miraz’s captaincy. However, I would say it is too early to assess his performance as a captain. After five or six more series, it will be clear whether he can truly handle the pressure. This is only Miraz’s second series as a full-time ODI captain, so he needs more time.

Miraz has ample experience, having played for many years across all three formats. He also has experience captaining at the under-19 level. The key now is to see how he handles the pressure when the team does not win and how he performs in the next series.

Akram Khan, former national team captain

11 runs is a good target on this wicket. But we were gifted with runs right at the start. Soumya should not have gone for big shots. On such a wicket, going for big shots yields negative results about 60 per cent of the time. If the plan was to play aggressively, Rishad should have been sent in. None of the three batters who went in are suited for a Super Over.

Playing on this type of wicket can also undermine the batsmen’s confidence. We have previously had spin-friendly wickets, but back then we first analysed whether our team had players capable of facing spin. After batting well, we went on to win the match.

Now it is evident that on the wickets we are preparing, we are batting the same way as the opposition. When preparing wickets, we must also consider our players’ comfort and quality. We lacked this consideration.

Habibul Bashar, Former national team captain

I did not even expect Soumya in the Super Over. He is not the kind of batter who can go in and hit big on that wicket. That is why his T20 record is also not strong. Sending Saif and Soumya is somehow acceptable, but sending Nazmul, a left-hander, at number three was not a good decision at all.

Rather, the team management could send in Rishad and Towhid Hridoy. They can go for big hits on any ball. But the game is totally different in the case of super over. They might have gotten out. Still that would be the right decision.

And the match should not even have gone to a super over. We did not bowl badly in the main match, but there was a lack of planning in batting. By the 40th over, we could have been left with the wicket in hand after scoring just four runs and then gone for big shots once the ball aged. But they did exactly that—and succeeded.