Nidahas Trophy 2018: Positives for Bangladesh from the series

The Nidahas Trophy 2018 was played to commemorate the 70th year of Sri Lanka’s independence. Alongside Sri Lanka, two of its neighbors, India and Bangladesh who share pretty much a similar history took part in the series. Although the series was a least-anticipated one before it begun, it took the fans by quite many surprises. Firstly, Sri Lanka defeated India in the first game which was quite a shocker.

But that was just not it. There were much more action, drama, and emotions to come. Bangladesh, who lost horribly against the Lankans at their home in February was expected to be the team that would come last. They haven’t had the best of times in T20I recently. However, this poor record couldn’t stop the Bangla Tigers. They won both the matches against Sri Lanka to make it into the finals.But unfortunately, they lost the game against India in a very exciting game that went down till the last ball of the game.

Here are the five positives for Bangladesh from this series:

1. Mushfiqur Rahim’s form

The senior statesman in the Bangladesh side, Mushfiqur Rahim came to the rescue whenever his side was in a spot of bother. He was the who ensured that he stayed till the end when Bangladesh chased down 215 against the Lankans. Rahim kept his calm and composure and he scored some big runs at the end to win the game for Bangladesh. Rahim scored a brisk 72 runs 35 off balls in that game.

He further continued his form into the other matches of the series. He scored 72 again, but from 55 balls in the game against India. Rahim was quite consistent enough in this series and he scored 199 runs at an average close to 40. Bangladesh will hope that he will continue the good form as he is one of the crucial members of their squad.

2. Young players taking up the responsibility

One more revelation for the Bangla side is that the youngsters taking up the responsibilities of finishing the games. Apart from Mushfiqur, Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Das, and Sabbir Rahman have all taken up the responsibilities of finishing the games. They guys batted in tough situations for their side and put their best foot forward. They scored some crucial runs for Bangladesh and helped them get into the finals.

Although this is one of the biggest positive for Bangladesh, the concern for them is their consistency. The team and the management will hope that these youngsters will take confidence from this series. They will want them to perform on a more consistent basis.

3. The zeal and the rigor to win

The Bangladesh side looked very determined to win the series. They clearly showed this in their acts. The Bangladesh side played an aggressive brand of cricket. Although they’ve crossed their limits many a time, it is clearly evident that they wanted to show that they were there to win. They didn’t give up on their hopes at any stage in the matches that they’ve played. Every member of the team fought hard until the end.

This is indeed a positive sign for Bangladesh cricket as their youngsters displayed the zeal to win. They do not consider themselves a small side anymore. Some of the youngsters also showed some great maturity in this series which is a great sign. It is important for the team to take this attitude forward in the games that they’ll play in the future.

4. Mehidy Hasan’s brilliance with the ball

This is one series that the bowlers would like to forget as quickly as possible. Most of the games were a treat for the batsmen. The tournament has witnessed many high-scoring games and it is tough to be a bowler in such tournaments. However, a very young Bangladeshi off-spinner showed some great maturity and bowled some economical spells.

The 20-year-old Mehidy Hasan was one of the brilliant performers with the ball for the Bangla Tigers. The young Mehidy opened the bowling and bowled in the powerplay overs. Although he didn’t have a great game in the finals, he performed exceptionally well in the league stages of the tournament. Young Mehidy only picked one wicket but is expected to get much better with the time to come.

5. Mustafizur Rahman’s fitness

Mustafizur Rahman fondly called the ‘Fizz’ burst onto the international scenes in an ODI series against India. He has got a deceptively slower ball that outfoxes the batsmen and very quickly ascended up the ranks to be one of Bangladesh’s premier fast bowler. He has had an outstanding IPL stint with the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016 and helped them win their first title.

However, the workload has got the better of this youngster and had to miss out on a lot of action. He also lost his pace a little bit and was struggling. But in the Nidahas Trophy, he looked better and performed decently well. Although he was a leaking a lot of runs, he bowled some crucial overs and picked important wickets. He looked very fit which is a good sign for Bangladesh ahead of the 2019 World Cup. He will now have to work on his bowling better in order to be the old ‘Fizz’ that we all know.