Bangladesh pace bowling coach Shaun Tait on Monday urged his side to not take Ireland lightly but at the same urged his disciples to not complicate or overanalyse things in the three-match T20I series decider at Chattogram, scheduled on December 2. The series, which will be Bangladesh’s ultimate bilateral T20 assignment before the T20 World Cup in February, is currently locked at 1-1 as the hosts retaliated well after coming up short in the opening game. For betting related avenues, check Betway.
The biggest revelation of Bangladesh’s T20 woes came at the hands of a second-string Indian side in October 2024. Poor shot selection was a recurring theme across their three innings, with the batters adamant on muscling the ball on tracks which saw the hosts marry finesse and ferocity to set targets of 221 and 297. Save for the dead rubber in Hyderabad where Litton Das and Towhid Hridoy held their shape, hit through the line and improvised sensibly to contribute 105 out of Bangladesh’s total of 164, the brazen ignorance of key pillars of batsmanship like timing, balance, placement and field manipulation showed how out of depth the Asian Tigers are, so much so that they were at the receiving end of USA’s maiden series win against a full-member nation.
Bangladesh’s attempts to up the tempo in the PowerPlay, well intended but rashly executed, have led to scenarios which rob them of the freedom to speed up through the middle overs. Litton, Bangladesh’s newly-appointed T20I skipper, advocates for flexibility.
“We might need to chase 180-200 in some games, and 140-145 in other games. The ultimate goal is to win the game. A batter might need to score 40 off 20 balls in one game, and 15 off 20 in the next game. I want every player to be involved in the game. It is more important for the player to know how to win a game, rather than stick to a brand of cricket,’’ he opined.
Execution power is Shaun Tait’s mantra as well. Playing their first BPL season since 2013, Chittagong Kings finished runners-up under his tutelage this year. Well travelled as a bowling coach, his experience will help optimize Bangladesh’s fast-bowling talent, as evidenced by the output of Shoriful Islam and Khaled Ahmed in the homegrown league. “Nowadays in T20 cricket, you can get really confused with field settings. You can get confused with six different deliveries to bowl in one over. I tried to take away the fear of being hit. We talked about getting just two or three types of deliveries right. We took the analytics away from the game, and kept it simple,’’ Tait outlined his philosophy.
