Poor batsmanship costs Tigers
You obviously have to play shots. You have to make sure before playing shots that you are in control and I think it is better to take risks after taking the team to a good position.
MASHRAFE BIN MORTAZA
BANGLADESH ODI CAPTAIN
"Mushy [Mushfiqur Rahim] I know you are able to get boundaries with this stroke but what you need to realise is that here in New Zealand you cannot close the face of the bat early. You need to continue your follow-through a bit longer, keeping the movement of the ball in mind," Bangladesh's limited-over batting consultant Neil McKenzie told Mushfiqur during a nets session on Tuesday after the right-hander played a cover drive without leaning forward.
The former South Africa batsman, who is quite knowledgeable about the seam-friendly New Zealand conditions, was providing plenty of valuable tidbits such as that ahead of the first ODI on Wednesday.
However, the Tigers made exactly the same mistakes as in the past by being overly-aggressive without adjusting to the swing of Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson early on in their innings and the Kiwi trio reaped the rewards, sharing seven wickets.
When it came to adjusting to the initial seam movement, it was Tamim Iqbal who was the first one to be undone. A Boult outswinger invited the left-hander for a drive, but he closed the face of the bat a bit early and edged behind.
The likes of Liton Das and Mushfiqur also paid the price for trying to play strokes closer to the body and both were bowled.
Mushfiqur was unsettled by an ugly bouncer to the helmet from Boult before he attempted to exact revenge in the same over by slashing at a delivery close to his body, only to edge onto his stumps.
Soumya Sarkar took the time to settle in and even struck five fours and a six during his 22-ball 30, but he threw away his wicket while trying to pull of Henry and only getting a top-edge.
That over-aggression from the Tigers' top-order actually put them under huge pressure as Bangladesh were four down inside the first ten overs with the scoreboard reading 42.
The experienced Mahmudullah Riyad and younger Mehedi Hasan Miraz both got starts but were guilty of not being able to build partnership; instead looking for big shots throughout their stay.
It was only courtesy of Mohammad Mithun and Mohammad Saifuddin's record 84-run eighth-wicket stand that the visitors could post a modest 232 before being bundled out with seven balls to spare.
Adapting to conditions will be key for the Tigers and directly playing a fifty-over game just finishing a T20 tournament -- the Bangladesh Premier League -- could be another reason behind yesterday's performance.
Tamim spent some time speaking to McKenzie in the dressing room after the game and maybe he too knew that the Bangladesh batsmen needed to work on and rectify their mistakes ahead of the second ODI in Christchurch on February 16.
Perhaps the batsmen can learn how to deal with the pace and swing from Martin Guptill's unbeaten 116-ball 117, during the course of which the right-hander remained patient despite chasing a modest total and built his innings gradually.
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