The recent T20 series win against Aussies was an incredible achievement for Bangladesh cricket fanatics. Now Tigers eye another series win against Kiwis on Sunday.
Before the series started, considering Bangladesh’s condition, some said that Bangladesh could win the Twenty20 series easily at home. Earlier, when Aussies toured Bangladesh, Tigers secured the series victory in the first three matches against Aussies. In the end, Bangladesh won the series 4-1. And now, New Zealand is fighting to save the series against Bangladesh
Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur, Mahmudullah are the super stars of Bangladesh cricket. However, the torch is now in the hands of future stars like Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Shoriful Islam and Nurul Hasan Sohan. They are now coming out of the shadows of their senior cricketers and putting immense contribution in Bangladesh’s recent success.
Afif Hossain and Shoriful Islam
Cricket fans have been talking about Afif Hossain since he performed in the Bangladesh Premier League.
Some even called him ‘next Shakib’. He has caught the eyes of many in his short career - but this is the first time he has been performing consistently against the big guns like Aussies and Kiwis.
In Australia series, Afif showed his class with the bat and his clean six heating ability impressed everyone.
At the same time, young pacer Shoriful Islam also proved his ability by teaming up with Mustafiz in Australia series. He was impressive throughout the series but unfortunately, he still hasn’t played a match against New Zealand.
Nurul Hasan Sohan
Wicket keeping is an area where Bangladesh suffer a lot. Especially in spin bowling, the role of the person just behind the wicket is much more important, to create opportunities for stamping, to assist in making appropriate review decisions - all these attributes seem to be there with Sohan. He also has the ability to bat and handle crunch situations as in the Australia series we witnessed how Afif and Sohan batted till the end to seal the series. With Sohan’s inclusion, Bangladesh’s wicket keeping dilemma looks sorted for a long term.
Other players like Mahedi Hasan, Shamim Hossain and Nasum Ahmed have been with the Bangladesh team for the last few series and have played a key roles in them. All in all, the Australia and New Zealand series has sown some seeds of optimism for Bangladesh in the year of the T20 World Cup, but in the end everything will depend on the team sorting and implementation of the plan.