Bangladesh’s senior assistant coach, Mohammad Salahuddin, admitted that their team’s preparation for the recent tournament was not perfect. While other top teams played international ODI series to get ready, Bangladesh participated in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). After the BPL, the team only had a week of training at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Bangladesh has already been eliminated from the tournament after losing to India and New Zealand in the group stage. Their last game is against Pakistan.
Looking back at their preparation, Salahuddin believes that Bangladesh was not fully ready for the tournament. He noted that they struggled with the playing conditions against India and Dubai and were completely defeated by New Zealand.
Salahuddin expressed his hope that the cricket board will seriously consider ensuring better preparation for Bangladesh before future major international tournaments.
He stated, “Maybe our preparation wasn’t ideal, and I think that was a big reason for our performance. But I don’t want to make excuses. At the international level, you have to adapt quickly. Whether it’s Test matches, T20s, or ODIs, you need to switch between formats smoothly. We weren’t able to do that well enough. Being mentally flexible between different game formats is very important, and if we can improve that, we will play better at this level.” Salahuddin spoke to reporters before their match against Pakistan.
He added, “Most teams played a tri-nation series before this tournament. If we had played a similar series in Pakistan beforehand, it would have helped us adjust. Teams like India and England made sure they had good preparation with 50-over matches.”
“We arrived just two days after the BPL ended without enough preparation. Preparation is key, and it’s not just the players’ responsibility but also ours as the management. The cricket board also needs to take this seriously,” he said.
With Bangladesh and Pakistan playing their final match, which doesn’t affect the tournament outcome, in Rawalpindi on Thursday, Salahuddin emphasized the importance of ending with a positive result. He is hopeful that Bangladesh can challenge Pakistan.
“We might not be able to achieve much in this tournament now, but since we are here to compete, it’s important for our players to show they are improving and not repeat past mistakes. There are still things we need to improve, and we need to fix them quickly. You never know when something can inspire a change. That’s why every game is important, and there is a lot of cricket ahead for these players. A good performance here could be a turning point for some of them.”
Salahuddin acknowledged that Bangladesh was completely outplayed in their first two games. However, he praised the bowlers for their effort in trying to defend low scores.
“I don’t focus on past results. We didn’t play well in the last two games. We have played well before, but that doesn’t matter now. If we want to beat Pakistan, we must play well tomorrow. Our batting has been inconsistent – sometimes the top order does well, and sometimes the middle order fails. We need to solve this. But our bowlers have been impressive, and I hope we can perform strongly overall,” he concluded.
Bangladesh’s training before their match against Pakistan was affected by rain, which could also impact their performance in the game.
