West Indies debutants prove tricky for video team

In modern-day cricket, video analysis has become the most essential tool in scouting opposition and strategising for any team in world cricket as it provides a detailed idea of their opponents.

Whether it is a bowler's action or a batsman's strong areas, international teams and players spend a lot of time with video analysts scoping out opponents and rectifying their own mistakes during training sessions, knowing that even the slightest bit of foot movement can make a huge difference in a game.

The West Indies side touring Bangladesh has been labelled as weaker opponents made up of unknown players, most of whom made their debut in the three-match ODI series. And although Bangladesh managed to win the series quite comfortably, the Tigers' team management were keen to analyse the players before they arrived in the country.

But while it is relatively easy to collect footage of players who have already made their international debut, this young and unknown West Indies side, which featured 10 new faces in their line-up after top cricketers opted to sit out the tour, proved to be difficult to plan for.

Video analyst Srinivas Chandrasekar, who also works for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, has become a vital member of the Bangladesh team with his work with players off the field and he spoke of the challenge of tracking down the footage.

"It was a huge challenge. I had to start collecting footage of those players a couple of months prior to the series during the Indian Premier League. I had a chat with Jason Holder and got an idea of whether the West Indies might come up with a bunch of unknown cricketers for the tour," Srinivas told The Daily Star yesterday.

"I looked for the footage and collected it gradually. In some cases I could only manage to find front and back views from their recent domestic fifty over competition. Players like Akeal Hosein, Nkrumah Bonner and even Kyle Mayers, our players had already done their homework on them by analysing videos well before the series."

Teams all around the world struggled against Mustafizur Rahman when he started his international career, but as time progressed they have analysed each and every movement of Mustafizur's bowling action and how he bowls his cutters.

Cricketers need to work continuously on their game to sustain a career at the international level and members of the Bangladesh team also understand that. There was a lot of discussion about left-handed batsman Nazmul Hossain Shanto's new role at number three although the youngster failed to utilise the opportunities he got and was dismissed in a soft fashion in both games.

Srinivas said the youngster had been in constant touch with him and had asked for footage of his batting to rectify mistakes.

"I must say all the players of our team are very keen to improve their game and constantly ask for the video footages to me. Many are now talking about Shanto recently but I must say that young guy has been working really hard on his game," he said.