'DPL crucial for No. 3 spot'
For Bangladesh's T20 side, Sabbir Rahman's promotion to number three in the batting order worked out quite well. His natural style of play helped Bangladesh get out of early trouble a number of times.
Whenever the Tigers lost early wickets, Sabbir's aggression helped relieve the pressure. The only problem that he had was that he was a bit inconsistent as far as spending time at the crease was concerned. However, he improved a lot on that front prior to the World Twenty20 and that was evident during the Asia Cup.
Watching Sabbir bat at three over the last few months is something that fans and viewers have become accustomed to. But the fact remains that in the ODI format, the scenario is completely different. The 24-year-old bats at six in ODIs.
Yesterday however, while speaking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Sabbir indicated that he would not mind being promoted to three in ODIs as well.
“It depends on my form. I will be playing at three or four in the Dhaka Premier League. If I can do well here, then I can be a candidate for the national team as well,” he said when asked if he can handle the pressure of batting at the top in ODIs as well.
Bangladesh's next scheduled ODI series is due in October and there is plenty of time to go through the required strategies. However, the one fact that no one can ignore is that the Tigers have a problem when it comes to the number three position.
Three different players played at number three in the last three matches: Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad and Liton Das. In fact, it has been a while since Bangladesh had a succesful number three batsman. From Soumya Sarkar to Mahmudullah to Liton Das, there has been plenty of shuffling and that is a trend which has been going on for a while. The fact that Aftab Ahmed is still the only player to have scored more than 1000 runs in that position in ODIs therefore does not come as a surprise.
Players often say that there is an immense amount of pressure for a batsman batting in that position. One really does not know what to expect. A player may just wear his pads for half the innings and still not get a chance to bat or he might have to go to the crease in the very first over.
Sabbir has shown that he can handle that pressure. However, what also matters is the way a promotion may affect the entire combination of the team. A lot will depend on how he plays in this league.
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