In a game of cricket, no matter what the format is, good fielding from a side can sometimes draw the line between a win or a loss. In a fast-paced game like T20, runs saved by brilliance on the field or extraordinary fielding efforts become even more vital.
In the 2019 World Cup in England & Wales, the Tigers had a below-par tournament on the field giving out easy chances to important opposition batters in the likes of Kane Williamson, David Warner, and Rohit Sharma.
Many still agonise that spoilt chance of getting Williamson out, which was the turning point of that campaign as Bangladesh went only down afterwards.
In the recent past, Bangladesh’s fielding has come under much scrutiny after the players found it difficult to adapt to the different ground dimensions away from home accompanied by a queue of missed catches thus, even a decent performance on the field was a far-fetched story.
When it comes to fielding and Bangladesh, like most of its players on the side, are yet to find consistency. Although certain notable improvements of late had shown a glimmer of hope, the ongoing World Cup has seen no change from the usual picture.
As Mushfiqur Rahim handed over his wicket-keeping gloves to Nurul Hasan Sohan after much speculation in the series against New Zealand, doubts lingered on how Mushfiqur would get along as a fielder.
But Mushfiqur has fared well since then. He took all the 3 catches that came to him throughout the course of the series, fielding both inside and outside the 30 yards circle.
To back up his good fielding, he took a stunning catch on the boundary line in the practice games playing for the Bangladesh A against the High-Performance side just prior to the World Cup.
With the inclusion of a number of young players in the side, the fielding aspect of Bangladesh looked to make promises for the future.
Whether it is good ground fielding or taking brilliant catches in the field, players in the team with the likes of Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain, and Mahedi Hasan, just to name a few, are more than capable of doing so.
Despite the humiliating loss against Scotland, if team Bangladesh still wanted to scrape out some positives from that game, it would have to be their fielding. In that regard, Afif Hossain was the standout being a livewire on the field.
At times the confidence of a side or a player translates heavily onto their fielding performance and for Bangladesh, that is no different. In an important stage like the World Cup, it will often come down to how the players can win the battle against their nerves and the pressure moments on the field.
And that’s where, once again, Bangladesh failed to shine as Liton Das’s two dropped catches cost Bangladesh 2 points against Sri Lanka, along with bad captaincy. Fans are already comparing Liton’s instance with that of Rahim in 2019.
This Sri Lanka match has reversed all the momentum the team gained from the qualifying round and Bangladesh could well return home without any success in the Super 12 yet again.
An interesting fact regarding how poor Bangladesh have been in T20 World Cups is that they are yet to win a single game in Super 12 rounds of World T20s-- currently playing their 7th tournament. Namibia just won their first Super 12 game in the tournament coming in the world stage for the first time.
What makes it worse is that, once again, poor fielding has deprived the team from success.
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