
Nazmul Hussain Shanto’s four consecutive fours off Mark Wood, Jos Buttler’s helpless surrender to Hasan Mahmood’s fearsome yorker, Touhid Hriday’s heart-pounding six or Mehdi Hasan Miraj’s run-out of Buttler with quickness from cover – everything was Shakib Al Hasan’s team against world champions England. Poor Sher-e-Bangla, the red-green team had celebrated defeating the big teams many times before. 3-0 T20 series win against England and what else? Such a question is spinning in the mind of many people.
Whether they understand it or not, many people have made it a topic of discussion through social media. From many other victories, from many series, this victory will be colored in the gray history of Bangladesh T20. From Chanmane to aggressive cricket, fearless attitude, and never-give-up mentality everything has been seen in twenty-two yards. From the youngest member of the team to the cricketer who has been playing for a century and a half, coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, who joined the second term in this series, seems to have been built on the same formula. One of the discoveries of this series is captain Shakib Al Hasan. As a captain, Shakib had no shortage of cricketing acumen.
But this time it is different. As if he has changed his appearance. His range of 22 yards, his chemistry with teammates, and his batting-bowling performances are outstanding; All in all, a unique Shakib has been seen. Bangladesh’s regret in the T20 was about the relaxed mentality. Those who had a flurry of runs with the bat and a procession of wickets in their bowling would have lost their lives. An aggressive attitude is a distant thing. The captain changed, the head coach was rested and the specialist coach for T20s was fired, But one thing that hasn’t changed is the 22-yard performance. This time it was seen against the world champions at the sporting wicket.
This series is a sign of a new era in T20. The difference in the approach of the cricketers is telling. As the captain, Shakib, who has played T20 all over the world, says, ‘We don’t want to compare any series with any series. We need to win every match. The way we played and won, I think it was a time when we didn’t do much. From that point of view, I think the whole team is satisfied.
National selector Habibul Bashar also said the same. A smile of satisfaction on his lips at Shakib’s brand of cricket, ‘It is not that success was not there before. But the way we wanted to play T20 cricket, we managed to some extent in this series. The result of the series has become 2-0. We won the series. But what has been more satisfying is that we have been able to show some of the ways we want to play in the T20 edition so far in this series. In this series, Nazmul Hossain Shantar scored the highest number of runs (144), Mehdi Hasan Miraj-Taskin Ahmed took the highest number of wickets jointly (4), Liton Dasher scored the highest dismissal (5) and Shantar took the highest catch (4). Playing in the country’s field means spinning wickets. After the BPL, Bangladesh has come out of the dead wicket series against the world champions England. The spinners had some help though. The way Bangladesh’s three pacers Taskin-Mostafiz-Hasan Mahmud bowled on such a wicket is incomparable in one word. Miserable bowling in the death overs, breaking through, and taking the match into their own hands; This trio has given the maximum. Mostafiz took 3 wickets at an economy of 5.58, and Taskin took 4 wickets at an economy of 7.33. And Hasan took 3 wickets with runs at 6.50 economy. Jofra Archer was the only England pacer to bowl well, taking 4 wickets at an economy of 6.63.
If compared with the three pacers of Bangladesh, he is the only one ahead of Taskin (based on the economy). All others are above 6.50. Karan’s economy is 6.77, Jordan’s economy is 8.91, Woakes’ economy is 10 and Wood’s economy is 12 in one match. Shakib’s answer to the question about the pacers was, ‘Our bowling unit was good. We played with 6 proper bowlers. Maybe we need a lot more tuning. If we think about the World Cup, we are off to a good start. Bangladesh was invincible in all categories of batting-bowling or fielding 22 yards. Statistics say so.
Former captain Khaled Masud Pilot said about Bangladesh’s change in T20, “Although it is difficult to judge so quickly. However, Bangladesh has indeed played well in all three categories, earlier we would have had 10-15 runs less in batting, and the bowlers would have given more runs, and this time the deficit was less. Well done by the fielders. The approach that Bangladesh has played is admirable, but it needs to be maintained. If he can’t hold it then we will talk about this win later. In the England series, the world saw a Bangladesh shining with the glow of youth. Based on their performance, Bangladesh has started floating on the raft of the new era. With the touch of youth, let the blood of the new era bloom in Bangladesh cricket.