Top-order selection - a sweet dilemma for Mashrafe
Photo - BCB
||CF Correspondent||
Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza insisted that he is happy to go through the selection dilemma over the top-order ahead of the three-match series against West Indies.
Bangladesh heaved a sigh of relief as injured opener Tamim scored a brilliant 107 against West Indies in the lone practice match, indicating that he is all set blaze in the upcoming three-match ODI series against the visitors, leaving behind his injuries.
Tamim missed the entire home-series against Zimbabwe and the two-match Test series against West Indies due to a wrist injury in the Asia Cup-opener against Sri Lanka on September 15.
With his place more or less confirmed at the top, national team management will be looking to get another opener and a one-down option from among the in-form trio of Imrul Kayes, Liton Kumar Das, and Soumya Sarkar.
Imrul scored two centuries and a 90 in the three-match series against Zimbabwe while Soumya, who hit a century in the practice game along with Tamim, struck a century in the third ODI against Zimbabwe after being included in the last game.
Liton, who scored a blazing hundred against India in the Asia Cup final, did manage to score 83 runs in the second game of the ODI series against Zimbabwe despite failing in the series-opener and in the last game.
“We have a 16-member squad but normally we have 14-member squads at home or say 15 members at best. We opted for 16 members as we don’t want anyone to have their confidence down, while we believe they should be monitored as well. We focused to have all the players who have played well for us in recent times,” said Mashrafe ahead of the series at Dhaka on Saturday.
“It’s a sweet headache to have everyone in-form at the top that we wanted for a long time. But still we have to take a decision [regarding choosing openers] that might look good or bad only time can say. There will be lot of talks though bit we will have to take a decision.”
Mashrafe added that an opener can come down the order if necessary as they have played Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar in the lower middle-order in the Asia Cup.
“Anything like this can happen (regarding playing top-order batsmen down the order). Nothing can be said at the moment. We are discussing the matter. In the recent past, some openers played at the down of the order.
“Imrul batted at six and played an extraordinary innings. Soumya played well while batting at seven in the final (Asia Cup). So anything can happen. We can do anything keeping the World Cup in mind,” he said.
