Naim embracing changes in pursuit of comeback

In just his third international game, Mohammad Naim lit up the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur with a scintillating 48-ball-81 and Bangladesh were cruising as long as he was in the middle. Although Bangladesh lost the match, Naim gave India an almighty scare. His innings, at that time, was the fastest 80-plus knock by a Bangladesh batter and is still the quickest one by a visiting opener in T20Is while chasing in India.

Ironically, despite playing such a knock in his third T20I, the thing that bugged Naim throughout his career, however small it is, has been his strike rate. His strike rate of 103.4 is the lowest by a Full Member batter with minimum 800 runs. At a time when T20 cricket is heading towards "see-ball-hit-ball" philosophy, it's not easy being an anomaly like Naim. So the inevitable happened and he found himself out of the set-up.

But let's go back to how he got his T20I call-up. It's quite common in Bangladesh to perform in one format and get selected in another. In his debut season (2017-18), Naim scored 556 runs at an average of 46 in the Dhaka Premier League (DPL), the country's premier List A tournament. Another stellar DPL in 2019 (807 runs at 54) earned him a call-up to the A team and subsequently the national T20I side.

Going by his numbers and playing style, One Day cricket is Naim's strongest format. An average of 49, strike-rate of 87.7, 31 fifty-plus scores in 72 innings in 50-over cricket - these are some serious numbers. But Naim didn't get an ODI run at all, even after the ODI captain Tamim Iqbal's promise to give him one. 

Naim made his ODI debut in Mashrafe Mortaza's last international match. He didn't get to bat as Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das did all the scoring. He played only one match after that and that brief knock against Sri Lanka in 2021 remains his only innings in this format. After that match, Tamim implied that Naim would get a few chances since Litton was struggling. But the chance never came. 

Often cricketers are driven by instinct and tend to believe the method they follow is always right. But Naim admits that his method was like that because he had little idea how to play efficiently on those slow, low Mirpur pitches.

"After I made my debut, I tried to score runs consistently. I fared decently outside the country but when I came back to Bangladesh, especially in Mirpur, I couldn't keep that up and a lot was said about my strike-rate. That's because I wasn't well-prepared and didn't know how to bat well on these pitches. Now I am learning how to do that and trying to score quickly on these pitches as well," Naim told The Business Standard (TBS).

What he said is absolutely right. Naim averages under 20 and strikes at 85 in T20Is at home while his average goes up to 29 and strike-rate to 117 (which is still low) when he plays outside the country.

But it's difficult to make the shift in better conditions after playing so much on bowling-friendly pitches. 

"Where I started out [In India], batters tend to play on pitches where the par score is around 159-160. But I played the next 14-15 games on 130-135 pitches. There, it's difficult to keep rotating the strike and at the same time to maintain a good strike rate. I have been trying now to adapt to different kinds of pitches and play well everywhere," he said. 

Naim rightly pointed out that strike rotation was one of the problems plaguing him. He is a tall man with a long reach and can hit the ball far as well. The southpaw is now trying to add the ability to rotate strike to his game. 

Naim was part of the Asia Cup squad last year but couldn't make the team for the World Cup. The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) was a platform for him to show some form. But an average of 17 and a strike rate of 111 didn't help.

Then came the DPL and for Abahani Ltd, Naim has set the stage alight. He has 719 runs so far at an average of almost 90 and a strike rate of 95.2. In 11 innings, Naim has eight fifty-plus scores. Out of these 11 outings, Naim maintained a strike rate of 85-plus in seven and didn't play aggressively in two innings because of small targets.

The DPL this year has not been a slow-scoring one (run rate of 5.1) and Naim is keeping up with that very well. He has the third-highest strike rate in the tournament so far among batters with minimum 450 runs.

Selector Habibul Bashar said a few days ago that they were keeping a close eye especially on batters that have been doing well in the DPL and Naim believes he can break the door with consistent performances.

"The DPL is not over yet and as the selectors said that they are keeping an eye on everyone, I think it's possible for me to return to the team," he stated.

The left-hander understands very well the nature of high-performance sports and is determined to do whatever it takes to make a comeback. 

"In international cricket, a team doesn't stop for anyone. When I was in form, I was given a run. But when my form dipped, the other guys got chances in my place. Now my target is to perform in the BPL, DPL and other tournaments and try to make a comeback," he concluded.