Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai
Who is Nahid Rana? The ‘Rajshahi Express’ spent his childhood days bowling fast with a taped-tennis ball. Nahid, who grew up in Chapai Nawabganj, has become the talk of the town in Bangladesh. A Bangladeshi fast bowler who can bowl 150 kph is unheard of.
Even Taskin Ahmed, his pace colleague, hasn’t touched speeds in excess of that. Incidentally, Taskin himself forms a part of Bangladesh’s much-improved pace attack. Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who generates some swing and nip off the wicket at decent pace, and Mustafizur Rahman, the experienced left-arm pacer, are the other pace-bowling options.
So, how did Bangladesh chart a turnaround in relation to their pace-bowling resources? Most likely, the process started with Ottis Gibson as the bowling coach. The former West Indies pace bowler sowed the seeds for Bangladesh’s pace attack to grow in stature. Subsequent bowling coaches like Allan Donald and Andre Adams have harnessed the pace department further. Bangladesh’s pace stocks are also their X-factor ahead of their Champions Trophy clash against India, on February 20, in Dubai.
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With the tracks expected to be on the slower side, Bangladesh also have some useful spinners in their ranks – Nasum Ahmed, Mehidy Hasan, Rishad Hossain and Co. But a game of cricket isn’t just won on the basis of possessing a fine bowling line-up. And therein lies the problem for Bangladesh. Do they have enough firepower on the batting side of things? In this context, the onus will be on the veteran Mahmudullah to not just steer Bangladesh to a formidable total but also find the required gears to up the ante. Incidentally, Mahmudullah aggregated 337 runs at an average of almost 50 and a strike-rate of 95.19 last year.
Mushfiqur Rahim, a veteran of 272 ODIs, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Jaker Ali and Mehidy, the utility cricketer, also need to make useful contributions. Among the lot, Mehidy was a consistent performer with the bat in 2024, but his strike-rate was on the lower side. With India having a powerful unit on paper, Bangladesh would have to ramp up their efforts on the batting front.
Bangladesh have won just three out of their last nine bilateral ODI rubbers. Their performance in the 2023 50-over World Cup and 2023 Asia Cup was below par. So, the form book says India start favourites to begin their Champions Trophy campaign on a winning note. If Bangladesh still have a window of opportunity to upset the applecart and upset India, then their pace bowlers have to make a huge impression.
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