Salahuddin confident Tamim will blaze soon
Pic- Cricfrenzy
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal mentor Mohammad Salahuddin feels he is ready to blaze in the upcoming days as there is no technical problem in his batting.
The duo was seen working in BCB Academy nets for hours together on Tuesday as the left-handed opener is preparing to take part in the upcoming Pakistan Super League’s play-off.
Lahore Qalanders have picked Tamim to replace Chris Lynn while Multan Sultans will be without Moeen Ali, and have replaced him with Mahmudullah Riyad.
Though Tamim did not fare badly in the lone two-day game that he played after skipping the opening two-day match due to injury, he never looked to be at his best despite scoring 64 runs.
BCB arranged the two two-day intra-squad matches, played between the cricketers who were part of the preliminary squad which was formed ahead of the Sri Lanka tour which eventually got postponed, to give cricketers with a chance to play some kind of competitive cricket following the corona enforced six-month break since March.
While the score of the two-day match hardly mattered considering it was just a platform to play some kind of cricket, everyone expected Tamim to flourish in the BCB President’s Cup.
BCB considered the three-team 50-over competition which featured the top players of the country as a test-run before resuming domestic cricket on a larger scale.
Tamim scored 2 runs, 33 runs, 9 runs and 57 runs respectively in the four matches which he played in BCB President’s Cup and by no means was it close to his standards.
As a result, Tamim decided not leave any stone unturned to make sure that he regains form ahead of the Pakistan Super League after failing to live up to his expectations in BCB President’s Cup.
Tamim, who is arguably one of the best batsmen of the country, decided not to take any break which was given to the cricketers by the board following the tournament as the board announced that the national cricketers can take a break for few days as they were staying in the bio-bubble to take part in the competition.
However, Tamim decided otherwise and instead opted to sweat it out in the middle at BCB Academy premises trying to hone his batting skills trying different shots in the net for the last couple of days and he looked focused on trying to increase his range of shots.
Tamim called his childhood mentor Salahuddin to have a look at his batting on November 3 and both of them were seen discussing several scoring option in between the net session.
“I have not seen how he batted earlier (in the two-day match or BCB President Cup) but I didn’t find any major problem in his batting, I am not worried about whether he is scoring or not,” said Salahuddin.
“We did not work on technical issues rather we were talking about tactical stuff and you can say it was a routine work,” he said.
“I feel he is totally fine and it’s only a matter of time when he will blaze but for me what is more important is that he needs to be consistent considering the experience he has under his belt,” he said.
Salahuddin added that playing fewer matches will certainly have an impact on his batting but added that Tamim has the arsenal in his repertoire to overcome from it.
“Look, as we have played very few matches certainly there will be problems but he is a mature guy and I hope he can overcome through playing matches,” he said.
On November 14, table-toppers Multan Sultan will take on Karachi Kings in the first qualifier, followed by the eliminator clash between Lahore Qalandar and Peshawar Zalmi. The second eliminator will be held on November 15 and the final on November 17.
