Bangladesh hoping to bat with 'courage, open-mindedness and freedom'

Najmul Hossain Shanto thanked one of the coaches as he slowly walked away from the nets at Chepauk, having just completed a long batting session. Shanto got nods of acknowledgement from head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, assistant coach Nic Pothas and team director Khaled Mahmud. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin, standing nearby, was in deep thought. Technical consultant S Sriram was minding the nets while Allan Donald, the fast bowling coach, observed his group keenly.

These were all tense faces in the Bangladesh practice session on the eve of the game against New Zealand. Bangladesh are on two points from two games. They were found out by England's powerful batting, and they have in front of them three opponents - New Zealand, India and South Africa - showing formidable form in the World Cup.

England exposed Bangladesh's lack of a plan B in Dharamshala, but the more obvious problems have been their struggle to match horses for courses. Observing their training session on Thursday, it became apparent that their final XI wasn't set in stone just yet. Spinners Mahedi Hasan and Nasum Ahmed bowled for long sessions on what was an optional training session in Chennai. Fast bowlers Tanzim Hasan and Hasan Mahmud bowled and batted, before doing a separate fielding session inside the main stadium.

Shanto, who has been Bangladesh's most improved batter over the last 12 months, said that they wanted to bat with courage, open-mindedness and freedom in order to get big scores.

"We have to bat with courage. We have to bat open-mindedly and with freedom," Shanto said. "Those scoring runs are doing it comfortably. We have skilful batters, so we should do well here. The coaching staff and captain have given us that freedom."

Shanto's leadership instincts kicked in when he was asked a question about Tanzid Hasan's poor form. The left-handed rookie has scored just 40 runs in six ODIs, prompting speculation about his position in the team. Shanto felt that Tanzid should be allowed a bit of time and space.

"I think we should stop thinking about the openers. We leave the thought of the openers. Every top order batter came with good preparations. I think one or two good innings will give the batters a bit of confidence. I think nobody is relaxed. They are all trying to do something for the team. We are hopeful there will be more scores from the top order.

"I think he has played five or six games. Personally I feel some need more time, some need less time. Everyone should believe him. We should support him. We have a capable side, so I am hopeful we will all perform well."

Bangladesh have also not got the performance from their fast bowling group that they would expect. It has been only two games but given their consistency of the last two years, the lack of breakthroughs have been surprising.

Shanto said that the fast bowlers' good showing of the last two years will not go to waste. "Firstly, none of the fast bowlers are disappointed. Everyone is fine. The wicket is such that there will be a lot of runs. We don't see our fast bowlers going for 60-70 runs in their ten overs, so suddenly when we see them do it, we might think they are bowling badly. It is certainly not that.

"We know how these wickets are, so we have to find ways to get wickets with the new ball or in the middle overs. I believe that the fast bowlers need to improve by 10% to get into a good space."

Shanto said that Mahedi and Nasum showed them in the Asia Cup, against India in Colombo, that they can win through lower-order resistance. "They played well in the Asia Cup. We don't know how this wicket will behave. The captain and coach will decide on the side after taking a look at the pitch - on the number of pacers or spinners.

"Everyone has become a performer. We are all capable players. We won that game against India because the lower middle-order batted well in that game. They certainly have an important role."

Bangladesh, however, don't have great memories at Chepauk. In their only international match here, they lost to Kenya by 28 runs, in 1998. Abedin, the selector on tour and a former Bangladesh captain, was in that side. Team director Mahmud, too, played that game against Kenya. It's a good thing the current Bangladesh team is not too caught up with history.