T20 World Cup 2021 | We want to do better in the powerplay, says Ashwell Prince

After going down to Scotland in their T20 World Cup 2021 opener, Bangaldesh redeemed themselves with a 26-run win over Oman on Tuesday. The recuuring issue however, was the lack of substantial score in the powerplay, with them registereing scores of 25/2 and 29/2 in the first six overs in their first two matches respectively.

Ahead of their must-win match against Papua New Guinea on Thursday, batting coach Ashwell Prince hopes for the toop-order to give a fluent start.

"We want to do better in the powerplay. At the end of the day, as much as you want to impose your game plan, you have to respect the opposition," Prince said.

"I think particularly against Oman, their opening bowlers were very good. They both had shape on the ball. Good discipline. They were aggressive in the field. It doesn't matter whether it is a superstar delivering the ball or a lesser-known name, when someone delivers a ball with shape on it, you have to respect it. Oman and Scotland were both outstanding."

Opener Liton Das has been woefully out-of-form, having managed just 86 runs in his last 10 T20I innings. Mohammad Naim, who had replaced Soumya Sarkar in the last game, scored a fine 50-ball 64 to guide his team to a match-winning score of 153. With Liton being a first-choice opener as Bangaldesh seek to maintain a left-right combination, Prince expects him to rediscover his best going ahead.

"I think at the moment he (Liton) wants to get a start," said Prince. "He batted really nicely in the warm-up match two weeks ago against Oman A. He hasn't had a big score since then. I think when you are labelled as the best batsman in your generation, sometimes it can be a burden on your shoulders.

"He is a fantastically talented player. I think everyone is waiting for him to burst out and be the player that we know he can be. All the coaches are trying to assist him as much as possible. We believe in him. We trust him. Hopefully, there will be a bigger stage in a week's time to express himself. If you want to be a big player who goes up against all the other big players in the world, you have to adapt to any situation."

Prince added that the players have no issue having to change the batting order for the betterment of the team

"Every player should be prepared to be in a flexible batting line-up. We have had these discussions in team meetings. These days there are so many stats, but the players have to make their own decisions in the middle. The coach is entitled to have a flexible line-up. The players are open about it," added the former South Africa cricketer. 

While seeking a win against PNG, Bangladesh will also keep a close eye on the Scotland-Oman game which follows soon after.  If they manage to beat PNG and Oman lose to Scotland in the second game on Thursday, they'll qualify through alongside Scotland. Bangladesh will stand a chance still, should they lose to PNG, provided Scotalnd win by a significant margin against Oman to hurt their Net Run Rate. A win however, won't ensure them a qualification, should Oman defeat Scotland.

Prince is aware of the calculations and laid focus largely on his side's fixture.

"We have studied the equation. The margin between Scotland, Oman and Bangladesh isn't great. Yesterday's result helped us a bit. We have the equation within our team. The players know what to do. Unfortunately, we play the first game tomorrow, so we will have to apply pressure on Scotland and Oman," he concluded.