NO ANCHOR, NO CHASE

“You need someone to score a fifty to chase down such a total.”
A veteran journalist summed up the reason behind Bangladesh’s loss to Australia in the second T20 International at Chattogram on Friday.
It turned out to be the only reason for which the hosts paid dearly as Australia beat them by seven runs to clinch the three-match T20I series with one game in hand.
While Matthew Renshaw and Tim David added 97 runs for the fourth wicket stand, it was not the case with Bangladesh.
The home side lost the plot after Saif Hassan and Parvez Hossain Emon were removed in quick succession having put together 53 runs for the third wicket.
After the departure of David, Renshaw, who was on 42 runs, carried through till the end to help the tourists put up a challenging total on the board.
Saif could not do the same after Emon departed and it seemed to be the match defining moment, if not anything else.
“It would have been better for us if he (Saif) had batted longer. But we are human, so mistakes happen sometimes. I hope that maybe he will come out of this in the next innings,” Emon told reporters after the game.
“To chase this kind of total, you need one big score. Actually all of us, maximum of us got out in the 30–40-run range. I felt if any one of us could have converted that 30–40 into a big score here, then the game could have been chased more easily,” he said.
Emon said that there should be someone anchoring the innings and that they missed Litton Kumar Das in that role.
“Having one person to hold the innings is good (even in T20Is),” said Emon.
“It depends on what the situation demands on the day (whether we need someone to anchor the innings),” he noted.
“Today the target was also a bit big. Our plan was, when Saif bhai and I were batting, we were talking about both of us staying set. Whenever we got a loose ball, we wanted to make use of it. I think we still have batters who can play that anchoring role. Hridoy bhai always does this job. Saif bhai also did it today. He got a very good start at first. When one or two wickets fell, he was actually trying to hold the innings,” he stated.
“Yes, dada (Litton) plays that role very well. So actually we are missing him a lot,” he said, adding that he was always prepared to keep wickets, a duty he is performing in absence of Litton.
“No (it was not pressure keeping wickets) and I am always prepared to do wicket-keeping. Because at any time, for the team’s needs, we may have to do this,” he cited.
“It is going well, Alhamdulillah. Inshallah I will try to continue it even more,” he said.
Emon opined that it will not be right to put pressure on Abdul Gaffar Saqlain, who came under criticism for not leaving a significant impact in the two games he played so far for Bangladesh.
“There are expectations on him, but he has played only two international matches. It is better not to have too many expectations. The quicker he can settle in, the better. In domestic cricket, he bats very well. From there maybe all of us have built this expectation that Saqlain can hit big sixes. I hope, if God wills, in the next matches he will be able to use himself well in that role,” he concluded.