Fill In the Gaps (ODI squad)

[Rinathq]

Fill In The Gap!

It seems like yesterday when I wrote a preview article for test series between Bangladesh and New Zealand and here I am writing another preview for the ODI series. Despite the excitement, the amazing performances, the intensity, the two matches were not even nearly enough to satisfy cricket maniacs like me. The three match ODI series seems even smaller and it will be over before we know it. However, the intensity it promises is higher than ever. With none of the team unable to claim title in the test series, undoubtedly both teams will want to claim this tour with an ODI series win. Unless the rain interrupts, one side will be able to walk away victorious.



For Bangladesh the odds are high and it’s not just because of the Banglawash which occured years ago. It’s more because of Bangladesh’s steady improvement over the last couple of ODI fixtures that makes them a clear contender for the series winners. Not to mention Bangladesh’s key weapon being New Zealand’s biggest weakness. It might not be arrogant to say, this series is only Bangladesh’s to lose which wouldn’t be surprising given Bangladesh’s inability to handle expectations. But after a positive outcome for the test series, the selection gets tougher for the home side. There are slots available for the taking and fortunately these slots have multiple contenders. This is very pleasing from a fans perspective but for the selectors it will be quite a task to come with the final XI for the first two matches at least. There are equations that will need to be solved, some probability to consider and on top of that, to keep the form factor in mind.



So what are these gaps for the final XI? Well, first let’s sort the squad between Batsmen, Bowlers, Allrounders.



Bangladesh Squad

Batsmen

Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicket Keeper, Captain)

Anamul Haque

Tamim Iqbal

Nasir Hossain

Mominul Haque

Shamsur Rahman



Allrounders

Shakib Al Hasan

Mahmudullah Riyad

Naeem Islam

Ziaur Rahman



Bowlers

Mashrafe Mortaza

Rubel Hossain

Sohag Gazi

Abdur Razzak

Al Amin Hossain



We have six batsmen, four allrounders and five bowlers. Out of the five bowlers we have three seamers and two spinners.



So the primary question is what will be the combination that should be in for these first two ODIs? Now for shorter formats, it is more of a fashion these days to fill up the squad with as many allrounders as possible. It strengthens the batting attack while providing handy back for the bowling unit especially for middle overs. As mentioned, Bangladesh has four allrounders in the ODI squad. Shakib, Riyad, Naeem, Zia. While Shakib is confirmed his slot, perhaps a wise movie would be to pick two out of the remaining three for the starting lineup. Considering the conditions, having two spin allrounders strikes as a more sensible decision especially since both Riyad and Naeem are solid batting units. Even though some might argue, but I feel like Riyad`s inclusion is justified. He is an experienced player who has performed well in the last series. Naeem also deserves a chance after showing some consistency at domestic level for quite some time now. With three allrounders in the side, it leaves us with eight slots. Now there could be two potential combinations. First is four batsmen and four bowlers and the second combination is five batsmen and three bowlers. Both combinations have their highs and lows. With the combination of five batsmen, the batting unit is as strong as it gets. It also makes sense since there are three allrounders. However, Bangladesh side has been struggling in bowling department so it wouldn`t be wrong to play an extra bowler since the seamers are either returning from injury or they are out of form. The conditions and pitch are also key factors of course but in the end it will be down to the choice between a batting based team or a more balanced side. Going with a heavy batting side would be an aggressive approach but with some inform bowlers like Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee and Kyle Mills to face, it might be a more sensible approach. If the selectors do go with a three men bowling attack, it would be a question on selecting between Gazi and Razzak. With Shakib there as our SLA option, I would easily go with Gazi to add some variation.

1)Mashrafe Mortaza

2) Sohag Gazi

4) 2nd seamer.



For the 2nd seamer, there are two choices, Rubel and Al Amin. Some might also consider Zia as one but I wouldn’t feel comfortable with a seam attack which has an injury return seamer and another allrounder. Between Rubel and Al Amin, Al Amin gets my vote simply because Rubel looked out of rhythm in the test series. Al Amin had a fair English tour and deserves a chance for the starting lineup. Ideally I would have selected Shafiul if he was in the squad.



So far, I have these players, Shakib, Riyad, Naeem, Mashrafe, Sohag, Al Amin. I purposely left the most difficult task of selecting my batsmen till the end. Tamim, Mushfiq and Nasir are auto choices and so we are left with two slots to fill. First, the side needs another opener and it could be between Shamsur and Anamul. I have always been against Anamul opening since I believe that he is more like a no. 3 batsman which is his natural slot. That`s why, my vote would go to the only other option which is Shamsur. He had a decent DPL which sort of justifies his inclusion but the main reason why he is in is because we simply don’t have other choices. For no.3 we could play Naeem but considering recent performance, Mominul deserve a slot in my opinion. If Naeem or Mominul struggle in the first two matches, I would try Razzak or Anamul for either of them considering the greater weakness between batting and bowling based on those matches.



So now, I have all my players but I still have to put them in an order which would be more difficult with so many middle order batsmen in the team. The problem lies more between no.3 until no.7. From my selected players, we have Mushfiq, Shakib, Nasir that will likely look to score at a fairly quick rate and then we have Riyad, Naeem and Mominul who can go either way and it’s hard to make a prediction on them. Considering two aggressive batsmen (Tamim and Shamsur) up the order, I would focus on having the remaining aggressive batsmen towards the middle to lower order. So no.3 and no.4 should be taken by Mominul and Naeem respectively. Mushfiq can come in after Mominul which will leave Shakib, Nasir to accelerate towards the end. This will leave Riyad till the end who has the ability to hold things back if there is a collapse up the order or accelerate and provide a handy backup for the other batsmen. Mashrafe and Gazi are also slog hitters so they can be handy batting options.



So the lineup becomes,



Tamim Iqbal

Shamsur Rahman

Mominul Haque

Naeem Islam

Mushfiqur Rahim (c)

Shakib Al Hasan

Nasir Hossain

Mahmudullah Riyad

Mashrafe Mortaza

Sohag Gazi

Al Amin Hossain



For the bowling, Mushfiq would do well to bowl majority of Mashrafe`s over within the first 25 overs since he is not a death over expert. It wouldn’t be wise to leave more than 2-3 overs for him after the 35th. Al Amin will have to be trusted with the death over bowling along with Shakib. This leaves Gazi, Riyad, Naeem and if needed Mominul for bowling middle overs. Assuming it will be a turning wicket, these bowlers can be very effective.



This squad and order is only based on my judgement and by no means have I believed that this is the absolute best combination. I attempted to fill in the blanks according to what the team needs. In the end, whoever sits out of the current squad will be unfortunate.

[MHRAM]

It's sort of true that there is a lot of competition this time around which is excellent meaning we have backup and no jodhumodhu can easily get into the team.

shuvo and naeem will be left out I suppose

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[MHRAM]

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[Roey Haque]

I stopped reading when you listed Zia as an all rounder.

[Night_wolf]

Originally Posted by Roey Haque
I stopped reading when you listed Zia as an all rounder.

hahaha

this will be my XI for the 1st ODI, Depending on the result i would have make some changes for the 2nd odi

Tamim
Anamul
Naeem
Mominul
Shakib
Mushy
Nasir
Gazi
Mash
Zia
Razzak

[Rinathq]

Originally Posted by Roey Haque
I stopped reading when you listed Zia as an all rounder.

as much as u and I would rate Zia as a bowler,officially he still remains an allrounder. If you had to go with a one man seam attack, would you pick Zia? If no then he cannot be identified as a bowler.

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by rinathq
as much as u and I would rate Zia as a bowler,officially he still remains an allrounder. If you had to go with a one man seam attack, would you pick Zia? If no then he cannot be identified as a bowler.

that doesn't seem logical since only one spot is on offer for a seamer and there are how many in the country? by that logic the one seamer that is picked is the only identifiable fast bowler in the country? i do agree though that he's still considered an all rounder, a bowling all rounder, but still an all rounder.

[Rinathq]

Originally Posted by Gowza
that doesn't seem logical since only one spot is on offer for a seamer and there are how many in the country? by that logic the one seamer that is picked is the only identifiable fast bowler in the country? i do agree though that he's still considered an all rounder, a bowling all rounder, but still an all rounder.

no what i meant was, lets say we have a choice between Al Amin, Rubel and Zia and for some reason, Bangladesh decides to go with a 1 man seam attack, who would you go with? Surely not an allrounder like Zia? As good as he can be

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by rinathq
no what i meant was, lets say we have a choice between Al Amin, Rubel and Zia and for some reason, Bangladesh decides to go with a 1 man seam attack, who would you go with? Surely not an allrounder like Zia? As good as he can be

that's actually a tough choice because al amin hasn't played any ODIs, zia has played a small amount and done well and rubel has played a lot but just done ok. i myself would probably want to be picking either al amin or zia.

mash beats all though if he is a choice.

[Roey Haque]

Originally Posted by rinathq
as much as u and I would rate Zia as a bowler,officially he still remains an allrounder. If you had to go with a one man seam attack, would you pick Zia? If no then he cannot be identified as a bowler.

I would pick Mashrafe if we had a one man seam attack. If he was injured, yes I just might pick Zia, and I'm not the only one judging by some of the line ups the people have here with Zia and Mash as the only two pacers.

Robiul is injured of course. Shafiul and Rubel blow hot and cold way too often, and their good form ain't even that good. Not impressed with Al Amin, so yeah.

[Zeeshan]

My ODI XI

1.Tamim Iqbal
2.Anamul
3.Mominul Haque
4.Mushfiqur Rahim (c)
5.Shakib Al Hasan
6.Nasir Hossain
7.Mashrafe Mortaza
8.Razzak
9.Sohag Gazi
10.Rubel
11.Wildcard: probably Naeem

Al-Amin hasn't done anything to get an ODI selection but since Shafiul is out he will be the auto choice I fear. Razzak will prove better in ODI than Test. Sissy Riyad is out.

[Zunaid]

You do know that Shafiul is out?

[Zeeshan]

Originally Posted by Zunaid
You do know that Shafiul is out?

Yes, of course.

[Rinathq]

Originally Posted by Zunaid
You do know that Shafiul is out?

Yup and I changed that

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by rinathq
Yup and I changed that

My comment was for Zee who had an /Shafiul in his list.

[Rinathq]

The reason I left Raj out is because I thought regardless of the condition, I think the Kiwis have him figured out after facing him for 110 overs where he had very limited success .

Other changes like I said in my post, it more down to our personal view since they are so evenly matched. I really wish to give Anamul a chance at no.3.

[Jadukor]

Zia and mash as seam options for me. Any other Fast bowler would get clobbered for 40 in 4 overs anyways so with zia we at least have a chance of getting decent line and length (to set fields to) as well as a quick cameo with the bat. Spin option should be Gazi Shakib and part timers

[Night_wolf]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
Zia and mash as seam options for me. Any other Fast bowler would get clobbered for 40 in 4 overs anyways so with zia we at least have a chance of getting decent line and length (to set fields to) as well as a quick cameo with the bat. Spin option should be Gazi Shakib and part timers

yes..one 6 of kane Williamson, 5 dot balls with ugly heaves and misses from mills and one single,4 dots and one middle stump uprooted from Mitchell McClenaghan..in total 7 from 11 balls

[Jadukor]

Originally Posted by Night_wolf
yes..one 6 of kane Williamson, 5 dot balls with ugly heaves and misses from mills and one single,4 dots and one middle stump uprooted from Mitchell McClenaghan..in total 7 from 11 balls

Lol... Hopefully the team total will be 300 before this happens

[Jadukor]

Polata oto kharapna
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/...ry/662463.html

[Night_wolf]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
Polata oto kharapna
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/...ry/662463.html

oi match e ki hoise ami dakhinai..ja dakhi ta bolsi..as many members here say dont be fool by stats!!

[Jadukor]

Originally Posted by Night_wolf
oi match e ki hoise ami dakhinai..ja dakhi ta bolsi..as many members here say dont be fool by stats!!

okay dekha jaak ki hoi ai series e. 20 er upor korle ami jitsi kintu

[Night_wolf]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
okay dekha jaak ki hoi ai series e. 20 er upor korle ami jitsi kintu

20 ta ugly heave maire 35 ball e 20 korle ami jitsi!

[Jadukor]

Originally Posted by Night_wolf
20 ta ugly heave maire 35 ball e 20 korle ami jitsi!

35 ball e 20 toh Ryad er score hobey


Ryad akhon century maira diley baash khabo... but MHRAM jehitu Mominul nia pot pot korar por o bechey aasey so oto chinta nai

[MHRAM]

Whatever zia offers with the bat is a big bonus

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