New belief can foster new beginning

A new-look Bangladesh, under the leadership of Najmul Hossain Shanto, have managed to break barriers by clinching their first-ever ODI and T20I wins on New Zealand soil against the hosts.

With the opportunity to seal their maiden T20I series in New Zealand in the third and final game at Mount Maunganui today, Bangladesh are now dreaming of setting a new benchmark.

The ability to play as a unit by utilising the strengths and the available resources has now lent the cricketers self-belief to perform their roles with clarity, which is also being reflected through their performances and positive body language.

Bangladesh cricket has mostly relied on sporadic individual heroics in the past with overdependence on senior cricketers often keeping the probable prospects in the periphery, limiting their chances of emerging as new heroes.

Towhid Hridoy, one of the members of this new generation of fearless cricketers, believes that the time has come for the youngsters to take the baton from the seniors.

"I believe that it is just the start for us as we will do a lot better with more dominance in the coming days," Hridoy said yesterday ahead of the third and final T20I today.

Hridoy also mentioned that they would like to move forward without bothering to look behind.

"Our seniors, who played in the past, have given this country a lot, and if everything was okay, perhaps some of them might even be with us here and play. I will not say anything about them, but now it is such a time that not everyone will stay. Everyone wants to take responsibility when we play for the national team and we do not want to focus on who is present or not," Hridoy added.

The longing for a regular leg spinner in the Bangladesh team has been a persistent one for decades, and the inclusion of Rishad Hossain in the white ball formats for the New Zealand tour portrayed the support and backing the Tigers' think tank is willing to provide the young leggie.

Even though it is too soon to reflect on this, Rishad did come through for the side, at least during the second T20I that was washed out.

"Even if Rishad doesn't do well in the next game, I will not be disappointed. If we all can have that patience towards him, I think he can do better," former Bangladesh captain and selector Habibul Bashar said, reflecting the confidence that the board is ready to put on the 21-year-old.

Not only exclusive to leg-spinners, but the team management also needs to show confidence and patience toward the entire team and that will only go a long way in boosting the current lots' self-belief even further, perhaps resulting in many more accolades in the coming days.