'Lack of batting wickets responsible for not producing power-hitters': Bashar

Former Bangladesh national cricket team skipper and currently one of the selectors Habibul Bashar has said that lack of batting wickets back home is the reason why Bangladesh cannot produce big hitters. Bashar also opined that Bangladesh must learn how to soak up the pressure in big tournaments. 

"Our batters haven't lived up to the expectations throughout the tournament except for one match (against Sri Lanka)," said the former captain. "We have to improve our powerplay batting in order to do well in this format. Also, we don't have enough power hitters in the late middle order. The other teams have batters who can smash it around when the required run rate is 12-an-over. Even if you don't do well while batting or bowling, your fielding has to be up to the mark. We are a better fielding side than what we showed in the previous matches and that's one area I want the team to do much better."

Bashar believes that the problem with Bangladesh's fielding is more mental than technical. "There is always a lot of pressure in international cricket. In such tournaments, the degree of pressure is higher. Probably that's why they are dropping regulation catches. They're great fielders, no doubt. Absorbing this pressure is what is important and we must learn that quickly."

Bangladesh hasn't been able to produce batters who can hit from ball one and clear the boundary with ease. The former skipper thinks that it's the lack of good pitches that is responsible for that. He said, "What we need to do in future is to prepare batting wickets in Bangladesh. In the BPL or T20 tournaments, we don't often get good wickets because a lot of matches are played on the same wicket. In international cricket, you'll always want to take advantage of home conditions. We haven't been able to produce power hitters because of the lack of good pitches."

"We have to prepare pitches in domestic cricket where 180-200 will be consistently scored. We obviously had high hopes from the team in the tournament. But we still have a lot to improve. A lot of T20s are being played in domestic cricket now. If we can get good wickets regularly in domestic tournaments, I think we can do well in the next T20 World Cup," he added.