The Sports Desk
Towhid Hridoy has hit back at his critics, following Bangladesh’s comfortable seven-wicket victory over Hong Kong in their Asia Cup opener, and insisted that the team is dealing with ensuring safety rather than pace. Bangladesh chased down the target of 144 with 14 balls to spare, at a rate of 8.28 runs per over, and there were questions asked on whether the side could have rushed the win and won it much early to help their net run rate. Hridoy justified the tactic as the focus was more to “play smart cricket” to secure the win rather than go for aggressive chase which could have seen a collapse.
He said although Bangladesh could have chased down the target much earlier they however played according to the demand of the sitaution. “We did not want to let it go. Perhaps we could have finished it two or three overs earlier, but then we might have lost few more wickets. The partnership matters more, and in our mind, we have to win,” Hridoy said.
Bangladesh skipper Litton Das, who top-scored with a fluent innings, also said the Abu Dhabi track and big boundaries made it difficult for sustained power-hitting. This meant that the team had to rotate strike and put partnerships together, instead of looking to finish fast. They had to complete the chase in under 12 overs to better Afghanistan’s net run rate of 4.70 but Hridoy said the run-rate wasn’t on their minds straight away.
“So, should we have gone out there just to risk losing against Hong Kong? Our target was to win. In T20s, every team has the scope. We might have been able to wrap things up sooner if I’d simply linked more boundaries. But we wouldn’t want to make things complicated this early in the tournament. We want to win against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka,” said Hridoy.
Opting for safety over speed, Bangladesh got off on the right foot, and Hridoy is confident that their intelligent brand of cricket will bear fruit as the Asia Cup moves forward.
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