Bangladesh cricket team suffered a massive defeat against India in their opening fixture of ICC CT 2025. Bangladesh lost 5 wickets for 39 runs in the powerplay overs against India & looked clueless on a Dubai dry wicket. Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons wants batters to play a bit more responsibly rather than dictating the terms.
Skipper Najmul Shanto would be well aware of the fact that beating New Zealand won’t be an easy task. The way New Zealand won Tri Series and thrashed Pakistan, they have a golden chance of making it to semi finals by beating Bangladesh at Rawalpindi on 24th February. The side led by Mitchell Santer is hunting in a pack whether it is batting or bowling department, every other player is making handy contributions.
All the games in the tournament are pressure games- Phil Simmons
Phil Simmons was having an interaction with the reporters on Sunday ahead of the game. Phil Simmons pointed out that Bangladesh lost the game in the powerplay overs both with bat & ball. Phil Simmons also mentioned that the Rawalpindi track is a batting paradise just like Lahore where Australia chased a mammoth target. Simmons was quite optimistic that Bangladesh can outplay New Zealand.
“As I said, in the first game, overs 1-10 we lost in batting, overs 1-10, we lost in bowling. It is an area where we should be better. This [Rawalpindi] is a big scoring ground and we’ve seen the score in Lahore yesterday. So you’re looking at big scores here and you’re looking at 300 plus here,” said Phil Simmons.
“Yeah, well, in the last five matches we’ve gone to 300 a couple times. So we have the ability to do it. In the last game we didn’t start well and we got to 200 and so as long as we start well, we can get there. This tournament is not on records, it’s about tomorrow. We play them tomorrow,” he stated.
“We take tomorrow and then let’s see what happens. All the games in the tournament are pressure games. Top eight teams in the world. And you expect every game to be hard. Yes, they’ve been playing well but tomorrow is a new day. So we’re trying to make sure that they won’t play as good as they’ve been playing,” he added.
Uphill task for Bangladesh
Bangladeshi fans would take a leaf out of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 edition where the side had defeated New Zealand. In that match, Bangladesh chased down 266 runs and dethroned the Kiwis. There’s a glimmer of hope for Bangladesh where there is turmoil & controversies in Bangladesh cricket & board and a win can enlighten their tourney.
Apart from Towhid Hridoy & Jaker Ali, the rest of the batting line up didn’t fare well. There are chances that dew would come during the 2nd innings as any target less than 280-290 most probably won’t be safe. Skipper Najmul Shanto & Mehidy Hasan need to lay the foundation for the lower middle order & most importantly take their time before going berserk.