Bangladesh opener Rony Talukdar said on Thursday that batting aggressively without fearing failure helped the opening pair to flourish in recent times in the shortest format.
The Bangladesh team management tried 17 different opening pairs in the last two years before Rony and Liton Das came together during the three-match T20I series against England earlier this month.
The Tigers earlier tried - Anamul Haque-Munim Shahiar (one match), Mohammad Naim-Saif Hassan (two matches), Naim-Najmul Hossain Shanto (one match), Anamul- Naim( one match), Liton Das-Soumya Sarkar (one match), Mehidy Hasan Miraz-Najmul (one match), Liton-Parvez Hossain (one match), Naim-Munim (two matches), Naim-Shakib Al Hasan (one match), Mahedi Hasan-Naim (one match), Liton-Munim (two matches), Anamul, Liton (two matches), Mehidy-Sabbir Rahman (four matches), Najmul-Soumya (four matches), Liton-Najmul (three matches), Naim-Soumya (eight matches), Liton-Naim (12 matches) pairs before opting for Liton and Rony in the opening slot.
They have already opened the innings on five occasions in the T20Is and have been impressive so far.
Until the arrival of Liton and Rony, Bangladesh’s best opening pain during this time frame was considered to be the one between Naim and Liton as they were tried highest 12 times and during this time frame, they amassed 218 runs in 12 games averaging 18.16 with the scoring rate of 5.76 per over.
However, Liton and Rony have already scored 319 runs in the five games they played so far and gave an impression that they have got the right approach to open the innings in the shortest format as both batted aggressively and also complement each other well to make sure the opponents are never getting over them in the initial stage of the innings.
Liton and Rony already put up the biggest opening partnership for Bangladesh in the shortest format making 124 runs in the second T20I against Ireland while it also happens to be the fastest 100-plus stand for any wicket for the Tigers in this format.
“In the dressing room, the team management tries to create an environment so that we can play fearless cricket and that is our main job (to play fearless cricket).
“I think he (Liton) is the main batsman of the team and it is a pleasure to bat with him. We always try to rotate the strike and while batting with him, you won’t know how the runs are scored. After seeing his batting, it seems just to watch his game because you can learn a lot by seeing his batting.
“I feel if I bat aggressively, my partner should also bat in the same manner as that makes things easy that is required to play big innings,” he said, adding that they don’t make any target during the powerplay.
“We did not have any target (for powerplay). We just tried to play ball by ball and according to the merit and that was our only plan,” said Rony, who scored 67 and 44 runs respectively in the opening two T20Is.
“Whether it’s T20I or ODI, if you can rotate the strike, it becomes easy because the pressure is released and we wanted that as we were determined to score in every ball. When you have positive intentions, you can do that and we were trying to do the same,” he said.
Rony, who made a comeback after eight years with the home series against England, said that he is not very concerned about his place in the XI and just tries to follow the instructions of the team management.
“I don’t have anything to lose. It was the same eight years ago. From the start, my playing pattern was like that. I always go to bat with positive intent and the team management picked me due to that,” he said.
“They saw me in the BPL and told me before the England series that I should do the same thing that I did in BPL…I don’t have the fear of losing my place because the team management is giving me the confidence (to play without fear of failure),” he concluded
