Tigers return with a lot still to do
The Tigers return home today after spending nearly seven weeks away. Most of the cricketers, including captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, will arrive in the morning while Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad, the two heroes who took Bangladesh to the semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy, took a different flight and will land in the afternoon. Mushfiqur Rahim and Imrul Kayes will come later as they will spend some more time abroad and enjoy a two-week break; they will return to business for the two-match Test series against Australia at home in August.
It was April 26 night when the Tigers left Dhaka to take part in a 10-day training camp at Sussex as part of their preparations for the tri-nation series in Ireland and the Champions Trophy in England. They will now return home with three wins from eight games and a promotion to the number six position in the ICC ODI rankings. During the long trip the Mashrafe-led side defeated Ireland and a below-strength New Zealand in the tri-series in Ireland and clinched a famous five-wicket victory against a full-strength New Zealand to reach a maiden semifinal at an ICC flagship event.
The Tigers were however far from their best performance and were unable capitalise on their biggest opportunity on the global stage as India posted a massive nine-wicket victory to send the Tigers home early.
Bangladesh were supposed to play a full series against Pakistan at home in July-August this year but the Pakistan Cricket Board has postponed the tour indefinitely, so now the Tigers will shift their focus exclusively to Test cricket as Australia will arrive here on August 18 to play two Tests in Dhaka and Chittagong.
For the Tigers nothing can be better than to show their recent improvement Test cricket, so they definitely will try to make sure that they leave no stone unturned for the two-match Test series against a strong Australia.
But the Tigers' performances in the just-concluded tri-series and ICC Champions Trophy gave enough evidence that this team will need to improve a lot if they want to take their performance to another height in the next World Cup in 2019, also in England.
Without any doubt, reaching the semifinal in the ICC Champions Trophy was a big achievement but there were a lot of things during their matches against England, Australia and even against New Zealand which will need to be addressed when Chandika Hathurusingha sits to outline a strategy for the 2019 mission.
So, the Tigers are returning home with a lot of works on their hands.
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