Agencies
Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo believes that the next step for his team should be to find success overseas. He wants them to adjust their strategies, particularly their scoring pattern, to foreign conditions and start by winning "one or two big games".
"The big challenge for this ODI team is to try to win away from home under different conditions," Domingo told ESPNcricinfo. "They are a very good team in Bangladesh. I think if we can get that confidence going away from home, it will be a big thing. I think playing away from home, we need to win one or two big games. Once you get the confidence and belief that you can do it, that will put the team in a much better place mentally."
Bangladesh's recent 2-1 win over Sri Lanka was their tenth ODI series win at home out of the last 11 such engagements going back to 2015. However, the picture is very different when playing ODIs - perhaps their favourite format - away from home. They have the best win-loss ratio at home since April 2015 (minimum 20 ODIs played), but among the worst away win-loss ratios in the same period. This, a result of Bangladesh having lost five out of seven away ODI series in this period, their only win coming against West Indies in 2018 after tying the series against Sri Lanka the previous year.
Domingo wants all-round improvement in skills to win outside of Bangladesh more consistently. "There's a certain bit of up-skilling that needs to take place with bat and ball," he said. "People need to improve in various departments to make sure they can win some games away from home. This team has won away from home in other conditions but to challenge them to win in those conditions is something that the team needs to embrace and take it forward."
Top among Domingo's priorities would be improving his side's scoring rate. Bangladesh have an average of 238 runs in the 38 ODIs at home since April 2015, which goes up to 248 at a run rate of 5.68 in their 29 wins. There is a marginal difference in their average scoring away from home, with the figure going up to 241, but when they win abroad, that shoots up to 269 runs at a run rate of 6.13. Thus, Domingo says, Bangladesh must look to score 300-plus regularly to be at par with the teams ranked above them in ODIs.
