Tamim surprised by Bangladesh’s decision-making

Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal criticised the team's decision-making following the team's 50-run defeat in a T20 World Cup Super Eight match against India in Antigua yesterday. The leading run-scorer for Bangladesh in international cricket, sharing his opinion as an expert with ESPNcricinfo, was perplexed by a few decisions that Bangladesh made in regards to the toss and personnel.

"When your batters are scoring runs, you are confident that your batting line-up can chase down a total like 160 or 170. When you know that your batting is struggling, it surprised me that [Bangladesh] decided to bowl first. Couple of their decisions have surprised me in this game. Fingers will be pointed," the left-handed opening batter said in his post-match analysis.

Tamim added that the Bangladesh team management's decision to bring in lower-order batter Jaker Ali in place of pacer Taskin Ahmed was surprising.

"I was very surprised why Taskin didn't play. Both the spinners went for plenty of runs. There was a time when India were in a bit of bother losing back-to-back wickets to Tanzim [Hasan Sakib]. If Taskin was there as an extra fast bowler, Bangladesh could have attacked India more. We know about Shivam Dube's short-ball weakness. Taskin had the pace to use those tactics against him," Tamim opined.

India's Hardik Pandya plays a shot during the ICC men's Twenty20 World Cup 2024 Super Eight match against Bangladesh at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda, on June 22, 2024. Photo: AFP

With a dubious call on toss to making contentious calls on the playing XI, Bangladesh's day in Antigua went from bad to worse as they were completely outplayed by India in all departments. However, Tamim felt that if the right decisions were taken even after the toss and team selection, things might have been a little different.

Tamim felt that not giving the new ball to Mustafizur Rahman was a missed opportunity to take on Rohit Sharma's talked-about weakness against left-arm pace, while he also felt that Tanzim could have been allowed to continue with the new ball because he was handling it well in the previous matches.

"Everyone is talking about Rohit Sharma having a little weakness against left-arm fast bowling. It plays on the player's mind when he is taking on a similar bowler in the game. Bangladesh had an opportunity to start with the left-arm seamer, just to have a look. India might have scored 196, but Rohit's start was very important for India. That's how momentum comes.

"Tanzim did well with the new ball in the previous matches. He didn't get the new ball today. Why do you have to change the whole setup for somebody else and even when someone is doing exceptionally well?"