In the two matches of the Champions Trophy, Bangladesh faced a total of 340 dot balls, with 159 in the first match and 181 in the second. This is a concerning statistic, and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto sees the need for extra practice in the nets to improve.
In the first game against India, Bangladesh failed to score off more than 25 overs. In the second match against New Zealand, they wasted over 30 overs without runs. The extra dot balls created mounting pressure, which eventually led to wickets falling as the team tried to play big shots. As a result, they were eliminated from the tournament after the first two matches. The rain-washed final match didn’t offer a chance to see any improvements, but Shanto emphasized the need to focus on reducing dot balls once they return home.
Before leaving for the Champions Trophy, Shanto had emphasized winning the trophy and setting a target of over 300 runs. However, Bangladesh couldn’t surpass 240 in either match. The reason? The batters lacked the urgency to rotate the strike, and this was evident in both games. Against India, the top-order crumbled like a house of cards, and even after recovering with a record partnership between Tawhid Hridoy and Zakir Ali, they struggled to maintain a consistent scoring rate. The same was true against New Zealand; after an initial phase where the run rate was decent thanks to a few boundaries, they couldn’t find a way to take singles or doubles, and the momentum dropped.
Despite this, Zakir Ali and Rishad Hossain’s late hitting pushed Bangladesh past 200 runs, but it wasn’t enough to secure victory.
After the match against Pakistan was abandoned due to rain on Thursday, Shanto spoke about the dot ball issue in a TV interview. He explained that once back home, the team will focus on working in the nets to improve their strike rotation. “Of course, it’s something we need to think about… we need to practice properly in the nets. We need to understand how to rotate the strike, what kind of challenges we might face in matches, and how well we can implement our practice in real games.”
While Bangladesh’s batting faltered, their bowling performance was a bright spot. In the first match, they managed to keep India at bay for 47 overs while chasing a target of 228. In the second match against New Zealand, they restricted them to 47 overs while defending 236 runs.
Even though Bangladesh lost both matches, Shanto found positivity in their prolonged fight. “If you look at the first two matches, we lost, but the way we fought for so long was inspiring for us. We made small mistakes, and we will plan better in the future and implement it properly. The good thing is that in both games, we fought back well.”
Fast bowlers like Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana provided early breakthroughs against New Zealand, and Taskin’s excellent bowling against India also stood out. Over the past few years, Bangladesh’s pace attack has proven itself in various formats, and Shanto was pleased with the performance of his fast bowlers in the Champions Trophy. “I’m really happy with the rise of the pacers. We’ve always struggled in bowling, especially in pace bowling, but in recent years, many fast bowlers have emerged. Some of the pacers in the country are doing a great job. As captain, I’m very happy with the way Taskin and Rana have bowled, and we also have the experienced Mustafizur.”
Shanto also praised the overall bowling attack, including the spinners and leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, and hopes they will continue to perform well under different conditions.
With their Champions Trophy campaign over, Bangladesh will now have a break of about one and a half months from international cricket. They will start playing in the Dhaka Premier League in the first week of March, and then Zimbabwe will visit Bangladesh in mid-April for a two-match Test series.
