'Need to bat longer'

In the last few months Bangladesh's batting line-up has been blessed with a number of talented youngsters who aren't afraid to wield their bats.

Ever since Sabbir Rahman smacked two powerful sixes on his debut against Zimbabwe, there have been talks about the immense power that he possesses and how he could very well be Bangladesh's most destructive T20 batsman in the near future. He displayed his capability during a practice match against Pakistan when his lofty century helped the hosts to an unexpected win. Litton Das may have just begun his career, but he too seems to have plenty of potential.

And then there's Soumya Sarkar, a player whose batting approach has been compared by many to the one of Sourav Ganguly's. Soumya's century against Pakistan in the third ODI of that series left the visitors devastated and the hosts in awe.

However, despite having potential, they still seem to lack the perseverance to play bigger innings more consistently.

Take for instance the case of Sabbir. In 17 matches he has had one half-century, but batted at an average of 35. While playing down the order may restrict him from scoring big knocks, the problem though is that he tends to lose his way after getting set. Against India for instance, he got out twice after reaching 40s and on both occasions he was timing the ball really well.

Soumya seems to be having a similar problem. In 13 matches, the left-hander has been dismissed six times between the scores of 15 and 30. It just goes on to show that he is yet to learn to convert those knocks on a regular basis.

It's an aspect that the left-hander admitted to be working on behind the scenes.

"I understand the problem. This is bad for me… getting out frequently after getting set. Rather than feeling bad for myself I feel worse for the team. I am working on that," said Soumya at the pre-match press conference at the team hotel yesterday.

Crediting Sunday's defeat to the failure of the batsmen, Soumya hoped that the hosts would comeback on Tuesday.

"Our plan was to score 40-50 runs without any wicket in the first six overs. But we lost two quick wickets and never managed to recover from that. Hopefully our plan will work in the next T20I. We need to win that and keep the momentum going into the ODIs," said Soumya.