Salahuddin slams T20 squad selection for Sri Lanka series

Comilla Victorians head coach Mohammed Salahuddin slammed the national team's selection policy during a press conference on Wednesday.

Bangladesh announced the T20I side yesterday with five openers and two middle-order batters. After Tawhid Hridoy smashed an unbeaten 91 during an unbeaten 84-run stand with Jaker Ali to make Khulna Tigers' score of 164 for 8 look very insignificant, Salahuddin brought focus on Jaker's unbeaten 40.

"You forget Jaker most off the time. Maybe he's not that good looking and maybe the board doesn't look at him as well. You look for players to bat at number six and seven and this guy has been doing well for the last two years. He scores runs at the crucial moment for us and is sensible. I feel that this boy should be given opportunity," the Comilla head coach said.

"I saw the Bangladesh team and there are five openers and just two middle-order batters. Maybe there is an advantage that Bangladesh will always open even in the 16th or 17th over. Even looking at today during a bad period we had a good partnership and his strike-rate was still 130.

"Even in Sri Lanka [Emerging Asia Cup], you sent eight openers. So who would want to play in middle-order? In Dhaka league, we don't find anyone to play in middle-order as no one wants to. Because we see that openers score one thousand runs and are picked," Salahuddin specified the nature of the problem.

Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Kumer Das, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Mohammad Naim Sheikh and Soumya Sarkar are all openers who will bat in different positions when they cannot find the opening spot. Salahuddin argued that he does not understand how the Bangladesh team is selected since there are five openers, with only two in Hridoy and Mahmudullah Riyad, who were picked for middle-order batting positions.

Naim this time was picked once he rocketed to the top of the run-scoring charts. The opener had a torrid time in international cricket, especially during the Asia Cup last year. Yet, far from looking at impact and what kind of match-scenario a batter is dealing with, often it appears selection is done by looking at just pure numbers and stats.

"You have five openers in there including Soumya. So they are all new ball players and will bat at the front end. Who will bat lower down the order?" Salahuddin asked.

"Maybe one from among these openers would go down and bat there but he isn't used to it. Since they are not used to it, you would be making a mistake expecting performance from them. I believe picking the right player in the right spot is very important.

"What they [selectors and team management] understand when they make the team is behind my understanding. I think, as you said, that maybe they look at runs. Someone scored lots of runs at the top order and was picked. A guy batting at five, won't score a fifty, maybe he will score 20 off 5 and the team will win or lose and making the team that way would be better," he said.