Naim vows to carry his form to keep him in discussion

Dhaka, 12 Feb  - Opener Naim Sheikh vowed to carry hisgood form into the upcoming Dhaka Premier League (DPL), saying that the consistency that he displayed in the NCL T20 and Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) won’t be remembered too long if he experiences a slump again.

Naim was the top-scorer in NCL T20, a tournament that was held with
only local players with 316 runs and thereafter he translated this form
into BPL with tournament highest 511 runs. The back-to-back successful
outings brought him back into the limelight again.

“But I played well in the National Cricket League (NCL) which is a first
class tournament and was a consistent run-getter in last three seasons
of DPL,” Naim told the BSS today.

“Unfortunately people just forgot my performance that I put in the last
three years. So ideally you have to play well consistently, otherwise it
would be tough for you to keep you in discussion.”

Naim said he would take rest for a few days before starting practice for
his next mission.

“I played so many matches in the last three or four months, so I need
some rest at the moment to recharge myself,” he said, adding that his
next mission will be DPL, a 50-over format tournament in which he
scored over 563 and 932 runs in the last two seasons.

“After scoring runs in longer version format and T20 format, my next
target is to do well in DPL,” he said.

But Naim, who last played donning Bangladesh jersey in 2023, was
reluctant to talk about his return to national team at length.

“Every player’s ultimate goal is to play in the national team. We put in all
the hard yards just to cement our place in the national team,” he
remarked.

“But I am not willing to talk about or think about the national team at this
moment. This is not the right time to talk about it in fact.”

He explained: “I believe if I can keep up the good performance, the
national call up will be inevitable.”

You just can’t play with a goal to make yourself available into the national
team, he said.
 
“Your performance will talk about yourself. So my target is to play well
and keep up the consistency wherever I play.”

Naim's arrival injected a fresh breath of air into the national team, as his
elegance and consistency gave Bangladesh a glimmer of hope to have
settled partner for Tamim Iqbal.

His 48 ball-81 in his just third T20 International against India is still
considered as one of the top T20 knocks played by a Bangladeshi
batter.

But the left-hand batter seemed to go down the memory lane, because
of the chronic problem that every Bangladeshi batters’ go through--
consistency.

Like many others, he was considered a 'fallen star'. But Naim appeared
to do the real work quietly and behind the curtain.

"If I want to say it that way, I have to talk about all the coaches in
domestic cricket. I have worked with Babul sir, Sohel sir. There is one
named Anwar bhai also,” he said.

I have worked on mind training, that plays a big role. Discipline is also
very important. Of course, my family plays the vital role, he added.

There were also questions about his style of play. His tendency to play
the dot balls and strike rate issue is believed to cost his place in the
national team.

He seemed to have overcome those two issues, evidenced in his
performance in NCL T20 and BPL. In NCL T20, he had strike rate of 135
and in BPL, he maintained strike rate of 144.

He hit his maiden T20 century in NCL T20 and followed it with a maiden
century in BPL too.

Naim said, he has achieved success by challenging himself, "To be
honest, there were no expectations. I want to keep the basic right and
follow the process. I didn't start with any expectations.”

“There was no goal, whether I play well or not... My own challenge was
with myself. I wanted to improve just."

A change in mentality is definitely necessary. If this doesn't come, it is
very difficult to play long innings as an opener, he said.

“Earlier, I was struggling a lot against off-spin. I tried to figure it out to how
to rotate the scoreboard without playing dot balls," he added.

The shot range looked increased as he played sweep shots and reverse
sweep, which were his weakest link, effortlessly.

"And if you talk about range hitting, I worked on it. Three years ago,
Mushfiqur Rahim bhai said that if I can work on reverse sweep, it will
become easier for me,” he pointed out.

Now, I played sweep, reverse sweep shots against off-spin effortlessly
and it has become much easier for me due to consistent practice," he
informed.BSS