Asia Cup 2022: A closer look at Bangladesh's squad analytics

Mahmudullah Riyad in action

The Bangla tigers have punched above their weight in the last two installments of the Asia Cup. They were the finalists both times but failed to lift the trophy ultimately.

In the 15th edition of the tournament, they will look to finish as the champions for the first time under the leadership of Shakib Al Hasan. 

What are the chances of Bangladesh winning the 15th edition of the Asia Cup?

An answer to this question might lie in an analytical discussion of the squad that is going into the tournament. First of all, let us take a look at the 15-member squad of Bangladesh for the Asia Cup. 

Bangladesh Squad

Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Md. Naim, Taskin Ahmed

Strengths

1. A great crop of Spinners: The squad of Bangladesh that will board the flight to UAE for the tournament has a great accumulation of spinners. The variety and quality both are present in the spin department for the team. Let us have a look at the spinners of the Bangladesh team. 

2.Presence of more than competent all-rounders: The Bangladesh squad has a great group of competent all-rounders. They have about 6 all-rounders who provide a lot of variety and flexibility to the squad. Let us take a look at the all-rounders of the team and their bowling and batting records. 

3. Presence of solid middle-order batters: Bangladesh has quite a few players who would be able to give the team solidity in the middle orders. They have some multidimensional players who could do a decent job going up the order or coming to bat in the lower middle order. 

Weakness:

1. Non-dependable top order: While the middle order looks sorted for Bangladesh, the top order doesn't look very promising. A look at the records of the probable openers for the team in the tournament will give us a clear idea. 

So the table gives us an idea that the players looked upon as openers in the squad do not have enough experience at the position at the international level. This might lead the team management to promote a solid middle order batter to opening, thus compromising the solidity of the line-up. 

2. Absence of proper finisher: Although they have a number of good solid batters in the middle order, there is a lack of an explosive finisher. The batting order looks a bit one-dimensional packed with too many players of the same kind. There will be over-dependence on someone like Shakib Al Hasan or Mahmudullah to provide them with powerful finishes. 

T20I record of players who will mostly be required to finish off the innings for Bangladesh

Opportunity:

Nasum Ahmed, the spinner: There has been a lot of talk about Nasum Ahmed being a very talented spinner. The cricketing experts who have seen him perform talk very highly of the man. The Asia Cup will be an opportunity for Nasum to prove himself on the big stage and also prove himself worthy of the challenges of international cricket. 

Nasum Ahmed’s performance in the Middle Overs

The year 2022 has not begun on a high for Nasum as far as international cricket is concerned. So, if that is considered an exception, he has been more than decent with the ball in hand in the middle overs of T20 matches. Even if he has not picked up wickets he has put pressure on the batters with his economical bowling. 

Threat:

1. Mustafizur Rahman: Mustafizur has been one of the most important cogs behind Bangladesh’s rise as a team to fear in the shortest format of the game. With his cutters, yorkers, and other variations, he has been a very potent option for the team in the death overs. 

But recently he has not been in the best of forms. Wickets are not coming for him and he is also getting hit towards the end of the innings. The lack of form of the leading bowler is definitely a threat for the Bangla tigers.

Mustafizur record in Death Overs in T20Is of 2022

Strongest XI

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