Shakib, Mushfiq and Miraz could be tested as openers in the Asia Cup
As per the national team's team director, the batting order will continue to be tested in the Asia Cup.
The Bangladesh cricket team has no end to the list of worries when it comes to batting in T20Is. The batting line-up has been collapsing like a house of cards in recent times and the opening pair has been a big part of the problem. Although only two recognised openers have been included in the team for the Asia Cup Khaled Mahmud Sujon spoke about many 'options' when the opener topic came up.
As per the national team's team director, the batting order will continue to be tested in the Asia Cup. Shakib Al Hasan or Mushfiqur Rahim may be seen opening the innings. Mehdi Hasan Miraz or Sheikh Mahadi Hasan may also be tested as openers. However, none of these four have the experience of opening an innings more than once in any format.
Shakib has opened the innings once for the national team. Last year in T20 World Cup against West Indies, he played as an opener and scored nine runs. Mushfiqur opened the innings once in ODIs. The right-handed batter scored 98 runs in that match against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2009.
Apart from this, he played as an opener in a T20I. In 2019, Mushfiq scored five runs to open the innings against Afghanistan in Mirpur. Miraz has only played as an opener in one ODI. He scored 32 runs in that match against India in Dubai in the 2018 Asia Cup. Apart from this, Sheikh Mahadi opened the innings in a T20I match. He scored 13 runs in that match against Australia at home last year.
There were five openers in the Bangladesh team for the tour of Zimbabwe. Due to this Bangladesh, has to face difficulties setting up the batting order. But only two openers have been included in the announced 17-man squad for the Asia Cup; Anamul Haque Bijoy and Parvez Hossain Emon.
In response to the question of whether Mushfiq can be considered an opener, Sujon said, "Not a bad question, Mushfiq can be used as an opener. Maybe Shakib, maybe Miraz, and Sheikh Mehdi has also opened. We have many options. But we will plan according to the conditions."
As none of the openers did well, Bangladesh is planning to shake up the batting order. In the words of Khaled Mahmud, "Our openers are not doing well, this should also be taken into account. We may need to make temporary changes in some cases. What I was saying is that by planning for different wickets, maybe we will make changes in the batting in some cases."
"We tried many batting combinations in Zimbabwe, but no one could perform as we liked. Tamim Iqbal not playing is definitely a handicap for us. But we want to find solutions from the veterans from there who have played in this format or have opened domestically. I can think about changing someone's batting position. We may do more of these in the Asia Cup.'' he added.
Although there were five openers in the last tour, there are only two in the Asia Cup squad. In response to such a question, Khaled Mahmud said, "I am not too worried about the batting order in this format. Our plan was to rotate the hitters to different positions."