Tigers take on Oman in 'do or die' game tomorrow

DHAKA -Bangladesh are keen to hit back into winning way in a bid to keep their Super 12s hope alive as they face off co-hosts Oman in

their second game of the Group B in the Twenty20 World Cup tomorrow at Al
Amerat Cricket Ground in Muscat.

   The crucial game starts at 8 PM (Bangladesh Standard Time) and will be
aired live on Gazi TV and T Sports.

   This second game was supposed to be Bangladesh's match to ensure their
Super 12s berth with a match to spare but instead, they now face a battle of
survival.

   The shocking six-run defeat to Scotland in the first match put them in
such miserable situation and changed the whole equation. A defeat against
Oman would almost shatter their dream to play the Super 12s.

   Ahead of the World Cup, Bangladesh though won the series against Australia
and New Zealand back at home in a slow and low track, the cricket pundits
around the world cautioned that playing in such wicket may backfire in World
Cup.

   Bangladesh team management argued that winning habit would keep them going
but pundit's speculation was justified preciously.

   The Scotland should be no match for Bangladesh even though the Scottish
side won the only match between the two teams in this format in 2012. But
they were more energetic than Bangladesh in the game as they recovered from a
tricky 53-6 to amass 140-9 and later restricted Bangladesh to 134-7.

   The surface was entirely good for batting but Bangladesh's habit of
batting in slow track made them scratchy in this wicket. After the openers
fell for cheaply, the experienced duo like Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al
Hasan were batting extremely slowly as if they were batting in slow pitch.
After the dismissal of Shakib and Mushfiqur, Bangladesh still had the chance
to close out the game as Mahmudullah Riyad was there in the crease but he
also had already grown the habit of batting slowly.

   However Mahmudullah admitted they need to play aggressive brand of cricket
in this type of wicket, blaming batting for their downfall in the first game.

   He also indicated that ahead of the crucial game against Oman, that is now
'do or die' match for them, they need to mull some changes.

  "Our batting is a concern. We have to bat better. We have to play
aggressive cricket, regardless of the situation. We have a deep batting line-
up, with Mohammad Saifuddin at No. 9. We may need to think over some changes
tomorrow.

   "We didn't deliberately bat slowly. We couldn't hit those boundaries. We
have to bat better next time. A lot of things will come up since we lost the
game. I think we didn't play well today, but we are a good T20 team. We have
the capability. When we play our best cricket, we can win games."

   Bangladesh met Oman just once in this format in qualifying round match in
2016 T20 World Cup and won that game comprehensively by 54 runs through D/L
method, thanks to a 63 ball-103 not out of Tamim Iqbal, who withdrew his name
this time from the World Cup squad. That remains the only century for
Bangladesh in this format.

   While Bangladesh would be down in confidence after losing three straight
matches, including two official practice matches against Sri Lanka and
Ireland, Oman is high on confidence, following their 10-wicket win against
Papua New Guinea in the first match. As they are playing at their own den,
they are also believed to get home advantage. But Mahmudullah said Tigers
would leave no stone unturned as the Super 12s berth is at stake.

   However the Tigers' stat in T20 cricket is not up to the mark. They so far
played 114 matches and won 41. They had lost a staggering number of 71
matches while two matches fetched no result.

   They so far played 26 matches in the World Cup of this shortest version of
cricket and won just five-four of which came in the qualifying round. They
won only one match against West Indies in the tournament proper.

  Squad: Mahmudullah Riyad (Captain), Naim Sheikh, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das,
Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shak
Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shamim Patwari, Rubel Hossain.BSS