A new beginning for captain and team
When he was appointed Bangladesh's long-term ODI skipper last year, Tamim Iqbal would have realised the importance of his new responsibility immediately, but he has not been able to walk the walk because the coronavirus pandemic forced a suspension of the Tigers' cricket soon afterwards.
Off the field, Tamim did manage to communicate his captaincy thoughts on various platforms, including his live talk shows on social media.
Bangladesh will resume international cricket after a long gap of over 10 months today with the first of three ODIs against the West Indies, and it is set to be a new beginning for both Tamim and the Tigers.
"Long-term plan" are the buzz words of the think tank keeping the 2023 ICC World Cup in mind and Tamim is keen for Bangladesh to play their own brand of cricket to create the DNA of the side.
"What I always give priority to is that we want to develop our own Bangladeshi brand of cricket. As I have always said, every team has their own style. So, I don't think we need to follow others as we are not as strong as the West Indians or not as built-up as the Aussies.
"ODI series now are not like those before, when it would not matter if we lost. Every game is important for us to qualify for the World Cup and we want to focus on things that we can control," Tamim told the media during the pre-match virtual press conference yesterday.
Although Tamim may have the upper hand in his very first assignment against a rather inexperienced West Indies side, it will not be a walk in the park for the left-handed opener who has generally opted to stay away from the captaincy and focused more on his batting throughout his career.
At the same time, the 31-year-old is the successor of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza -- the most successful and inspirational captain for Bangladesh.
"Obviously, they are big shoes to fill. Mashrafe bhai did exceptionally well for Bangladesh," said Tamim and went on to describe his style of captaincy. "Style of captaincy will develop with time. With time, it will be clear to myself and other people which direction I am going... There will be pressure in international cricket, but the important thing is how you cope with the pressure."
Although Tamim had captained Bangladesh on a couple of occasions previously, it was as an interim skipper. The experienced cricketer had also tasted the heat of captaincy during the BCB President's Cup and the Bangabandhu T20 Cup last year.
With regard to Bangladesh's new beginning, Tamim along with head coach Russell Domingo and the team management had chalked out a few areas for their long-term planning.
The upcoming three-match ODI series will also mark Shakib Al Hasan's return to international cricket after serving his one-year ban imposed by the ICC, and the star cricketer will also play a big part in implementing the changes.
Domingo said the team management had decided to bat Shakib at number four despite the cricketer doing tremendously well during the 2019 ICC World Cup at number three, scoring 606 runs.
The reason behind the change was to give Shakib the breathing space after coming from a long gap in international cricket and according to Tamim, they had a discussion where they all agreed to the tactical changes in the team, part of which will see young Nazmul Hossain Shanto batting at number three.
There was also talk about providing Soumya Sarkar, who is mainly an opening batsman, with a new role to bat at number seven and score some quick runs.