Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons shared on Sunday that they need to perform at their maximum in the PowerPlay, as they prepare to play against New Zealand in their do-or-die game at Rawalpindi on February 24. However, Bangladesh lost their first match by six wickets against India while the New Zealanders are riding high after beating hosts Pakistan by 60 runs as well.
“As I said, in the first game, overs 1-10 we lost in batting, overs 1-10, we lost in bowling. It is an area where we should be better,” Simmons told reporters ahead of their game against New Zealand. “This [Rawalpindi] is a big scoring ground and we’ve seen the score in Lahore yesterday. So you’re looking at big scores here and you’re looking at 300 plus here. Yeah, well, in the last five matches we’ve gone to 300 a couple times. So we have the ability to do it. In the last game we didn’t start well and we got to 200 and so as long as we start well, we can get there.”
“This tournament is not on records, it’s about tomorrow. We play them tomorrow. We take tomorrow and then let’s see what happens. All the games in the tournament are pressure games. Top eight teams in the world. And you expect every game to be hard,” he said. “Yes, they’ve been playing well but tomorrow is a new day. So we’re trying to make sure that they won’t play as good as they’ve been playing,” he added.
Simmons also added that they are waiting to see how Mahmudullah, who missed the opening game after sustaining a calf muscle injury in the practice game, does after the practice session.
“We’re gonna find that out today (where Mahmudullah stands fitness wise). There’ll be a fitness test and then we will know if he’s available for selection,” said Simmons. “Well we are thinking a lot of different things (like changing pace attack) but the first thing is as we said before have to find out if Riyad (Mahmudullah) is fit and then we can know how to balance out the team again after that. So that’s when practice is finished today, we know a little bit more. We have a look at the wicket and everything like that and so final decisions will be made later this evening,” he added.
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Phil Simmons also said that they are taking encouragement from the fact they registered their maiden Test series win over Pakistan in the Rawalpindi ground earlier in August 2024 as well.
“I hope it does ( make us confident for having good memories) because to come into Pakistan and beat Pakistan is not an easy thing and it gave them a lot of confidence. So I hope it has a significant bearing on how they think about this ground,” said the former West Indian opener.
On the other hand, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner refused to take Bangladesh lightly as well. Santner also felt that Bangladesh are well balanced with resources to cover all phases during the match as well.
“It’s a team we’re not taking lightly for sure. We know we’ve got to be on, and on these big events, they can upset any team on their day. So hopefully it’s not us,” Santner said during the pre-match conference. They’ve got obviously Rishad coming in who’s a very good legspinner. Mehidy Hasan Miraz has done it. Mahmudullah if he plays can offer some good overs as well so I think their balance is good at the moment. They have guys who can attack with the bat as well. I mean Hridoy played a great innings last game (against India) and same, Jaker Ali’s come on and done a lot of good stuff already,” he added.
“I think they’re a very good team at the moment..I think they’ve always had the spin department covered, but now they’ve got some very good quick bowlers coming through. Taskin’s done it for a long time now. And the Fizz [Mustafizur Rahman], we know how good the Fizz can be. And they’ve got some, you know – Rana – some quicks coming through,” he concluded.
