New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe is looking to gather intelligence on the USA pitches that will be used for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Bangladesh have recently played on batting-friendly surfaces in Sylhet during their ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka.
With the T20 World Cup We know that every team is capable of winning on the night. We want to play well tonight, a good challenge for us. It (pitch) looked reasonably okay, fast outfield. Good to have even boundary. One change, Sutherland comes in.just a couple of months away, The Tigers are looking to fine-tune their squad as they continue to gear up for the highly anticipated tournament.
ICC revealed that drop-in pitches will be used for the New York venue, they can expect the conditions that will be on offer. However, there is not a lot of data available about the venues in Dallas and Kingstown.
“We are looking at a combination for the World Cup, [especially] how the individuals are fitting in and understanding the game plan and be comfortable with that. We wanted to play on good wickets here. We don’t know about the wickets in America. We play two important games in America. Nobody has any clue [about the pitches]. There’s not much data behind it,” Hathurusinghe said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
“From what I understand, New York will have a drop-in wicket from Adelaide. They will hopefully be similar to Australian pitches. There’s little feedback from NSW Cricket about Dallas. Washington Freedom played there. I spoke to their GM when I was in Australia. Our recollection from St Vincent [Kingstown] is the last Test we played there. We are preparing as much as we can for these unknown factors,” he added.
With less than three months to go for the tournament, Hathurusinghe opened up about the team’s plan which is to ensure that the bowlers can adapt to the surface.
On a batting-friendly surface in Sylhet, Bangladesh bowlers were bashed all around the park as Sri Lanka breached the 200-run mark in the first T20I. Bangladesh managed to launch a similar assault, however, they ended up falling short by three runs.
In the second T20I, they pulled themselves back and managed to restrict Sri Lanka to a score of 165 and clinched an 8-wicket victory.
“We know what we can do. We are continually working on [death bowling]. We are playing on different kinds of pitches now. There’s more grass and carry. We wanted to play on wickets that are conducive for high scoring, to get us to understand what areas we need to improve in bowling,” Hathurusinghe said.
“It is a mindset shift as well. When you are bowling on wickets where 150 is a winning score, you are expected to bowl in a certain way. Eight runs an over [in Sylhet] is very good. You saw the other day that 160 isn’t a par score. We got to 200 [in the first T20I] even after losing four wickets in the powerplay. We need to understand those factors as well. I am pleased with how our bowling unit is shaping up as well,” he added.
With the series level at 1-1, Bangladesh will play the final T20I game of the series against Sri Lanka on Saturday. (ANI)
