‘Top order has to take responsibility’

Instability at the top of the batting order once again saw Bangladesh fall short in a rain-curtailed game against New Zealand at the University Oval in Dunedin yesterday, losing the first of the three ODIs by 44 runs via DLS method.

The New Zealand side was far from a full-strength one, with many notable absences, while Bangladesh, despite the experience in the ranks, also had a newness to themselves with some players returning after a gap. Yet, the hosts were able to produce the goods while Bangladesh were once left ruing the dearth of bowling options, with rain interruptions only compounding that trouble, and the inconsistency in the top order which has been on the slump for quite some time.

The first downpour had the game reduced to a 46-over-a-side game but after 19.2 overs, with New Zealand on 108 for 2, rain halted proceedings once again, resulting in a further reduction to a 30-over-a-side game with a maximum of six overs for a bowler. With Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, and Shoriful Islam bowling five overs each before the final rain interruption, the Tigers were forced to rely on part-timer Soumya Sarkar and off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz in the death overs.

And the inevitable happened as carnage from the duo of Tom Latham (92) and Will Young (105) saw the hosts rack up 131 runs in the final 10.4 overs.

Soumya conceded 63 in six overs, Miraz 53 in five and Afif leaked 17 in one – a scenario completely different from how the early exchanges went during which Shoriful Islam had pegged New Zealand to two for 5. It resulted in skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto saying that the "spinners need to learn quickly before the next match."

It was clear that having only four specialist bowlers in the eleven – the pace trio of Shoriful, Hasan, and Mustafizur along with spin-bowling all-rounder Miraz – became an issue for Bangladesh as part-time bowlers could not contain the Kiwis' late onslaught.

"If some of the bowlers had overs left, we could have used that. That's where the problem was and there was wind and we had to use spinners," Anamul Haque Bijoy, who scored a team-high 43, said at the press conference yesterday.

Bijoy, back into the eleven since the only ODI he played in September this year, also took responsibility for not converting his start into something meaningful.

"I want to take responsibility that I made a mistake. If I could score big runs and finish the game, it would have been great for us and we could have started with a win. Our top order has to take responsibility. I got set today but could not make it big," he said.

Bijoy, however, was not the only one at fault as Liton Das, Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, and even Afif Hossain, who batted very positively, fell to soft dismissals just like Bijoy, who pointed out the steep bounce generated by the Kiwi pacers being the main reason behind their downfall on the day.

For many of the Bangladesh players, it indeed has been a fast transition from the wickets with uneven bounce at Mirpur just a week ago to a lively solid batting track with good bounce in New Zealand.

Thus, despite Afif Hossain (38 off 28) and Towhid Hridoy (33 off 27) making their presence felt, the game had gotten too far away, with the Tigers now needing a quick turnaround before the second ODI on Wednesday in Nelson.