'We haven't turned words into actions': Hridoy on Bangladesh's ODI woes
Bangladesh lost to Afghanistan by seven wickets to crash out of the ODI tri-series in UAE
Bangladesh stand-in ODI skipper Towhid Hridoy said on Wednesday (October 21) that they have been unable to translate their words into action in ODIs, especially away from home.
Bangladesh have played 16 ODIs and managed to win only two, losing the remaining matches away from home over the last two years.
This poor run includes five successive ODI losses to Afghanistan. In the latest defeat, Afghanistan secured a seven-wicket win in the ongoing tri-nation series to eliminate Bangladesh from the competition and book a spot in the final alongside Zimbabwe.
“We haven't been able to turn our words into actions to be very honest,” Hridoy told reporters following their loss to Afghanistan.
“I certainly agree that we aren't doing well outside the country and this has been going on for almost a year and a half. I think it is important to adapt to outside conditions very quickly and at the same time to act according to what the match and the situation demands and it won't be enough just by saying it,” he said.
“Look, this same team has beaten big teams. We beat them at home: Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, all at home. I don't want to judge the whole team on the basis of one or two matches or series. Our batting unit in the matches we've played away recently batted very badly consistently and that's why the whole team is struggling,” he said.
“When we've played at home, the batsmen have done well in almost every match. So there are some areas where we need to develop when we play abroad,” he said.
Hridoy added that they need to work on their mindset and game awareness, having paid the price for shortcomings in these two areas.
“The problem is certainly mindset. I think there's room to develop in this area a bit more. In international cricket, if there's a defensive mindset, success is very hard. So when the whole team, the batting unit, collapses together and we can't recover from that, I think we should plan better.
“On game awareness we need to work on, as there are times when we have to hold the game in certain positions, when wickets fall early or when most of the wickets fall. From there, what happens is that when we collapse, we all collapse at once and in this area I think it's important for one player or one or two players, to take responsibility and lift the team from a bad position to a good one,” he said, adding that they don't have cricketers who can win matches single-handedly.
“In every team there are a few exceptional players who have the belief that they can carry the team forward from a bad situation. I feel that's something we lack a bit,” he added.
