Bangladesh national team captain Liton Das was positive with their preparation for the Asia Cup, following their 2-0 series win against the Netherlands; however, Towhid Hridoy鈥檚 struggle with the bat in the third match raised some questions.
The middle-order batter had the only chance to bat in the series on Wednesday, as the hosts secured victory with eight and nine wickets remaining in the first two matches.
Bangladesh made five changes in the last match, and as a result, Hridoy had to come at three, a position he occupied just once previously in his T20I career.聽
A higher position in T20 could have offered a batsman of his calibre more opportunity; instead, Hridoy struggled throughout his 14-ball stay.
Hridoy entered during the powerplay when Liton Das was in full swing, but a delay due to the floodlight failure halted the progress, followed by a rain delay.聽
Liton struggled to find the mojo back in the later part of his innings, while Hridoy never found it.聽
Hridoy faced 14 balls, played seven dots, and scored nine runs before being caught at long-on off left-arm spinner Tim Pringle.聽
However, Hridoy got the full support from his captain.聽
鈥業f a batter faces good deliveries when he just comes, it gets tough. I think Hridoy was unlucky today. When he was in, the two left-arm spinners were getting help from the wicket,鈥� Liton said following Wednesday鈥檚 washout in Sylhet.聽
Liton also wanted to see it as a one-off incident.聽
He said, 鈥榊ou can struggle on a particular day; I am not concerned about that. I know what Hridoy is capable of doing for the team. I have full trust in him as a captain that he will turn things around in the Asia Cup and will play good cricket.鈥櫬�
鈥業 think he is a big match player, and he will make a comeback,鈥� added Liton.聽
Hridoy has been going through a tough period, regardless of Liton鈥檚 full trust in him.
It was his first innings since the second match against Pakistan, where he scored a duck. He was dropped in the third match.聽
Before that, in the first match, Hridoy scored 36 off 37 balls while chasing 110 on a tough wicket in Mirpur.聽
Since his last fifty in the format against India in October last year, Hridoy averaged 20.45 compared to his average of 28.50 till that point.聽
It鈥檚 his strike rate that took a greater hit, as it dipped from 129.05 to 110.83.聽
The selectors have recently included two batters from long layoffs鈥擲aif Hassan and Nurul Hasan.聽
Saif shone with his all-round performance in the first match. He got a start in the opening in the third and final T20I but couldn鈥檛 get going.聽
Nurul, on the other hand, got only one chance when he came to bat in the rain-hit third match. He was unbeaten on 22 off 11 when rain stopped the play for the final time.聽
It remains to be seen whether the team management has enough reasons to replace Hridoy at the beginning of the Asia Cup.聽
