Follow UsBangladesh have been a perennial underperformer in the ICC events despite a few examples of giant-killing performances. While a side like Afghanistan are on the cusp of making it to the semi-finals after a historic win against Australia on Saturday, things are not as straightforward for Bangladesh, who have already lost to Australia and India in the Super 8 stage.
However, Bangladesh’s Assistant coach Nic Pothas isn’t too surprised by the eventual outcome, as he stated that Bangladesh have never made it beyond the group stage earlier - which itself is a massive achievement.
“I think what we have to do is we have to acknowledge - You say there was a lot of expectation. Sometimes we wonder where the expectation comes from because it's the first time we've ever got through to the Super 8s, which is a wonderful achievement from this group. So, yeah, what was anticipated before, I'm not sure what history that anticipation has come from, but what they have achieved has been fantastic,” Pothas said ahead of Bangladesh’s last Super 8 encounter against Bangladesh.
“Yeah, we've lost two games against two very good teams, but I think we would be making a big error if we didn't learn and understand why there is a gap between where we are and where the top teams are. And that's something that drives you forward. It's something that will drive training. It's something that will drive our thinking as to what type of players we need to play T20. But one thing that is very, very obvious throughout this tournament if you haven't got power, you can't compete. So, it's all about power,” Pothas added.
When interrogated further about his assessment of Super 8 qualification as very good progress for Bangladesh cricket, Pothas added that due to Bangladesh batters' lack of power-hitting, the gap between them and the rest of the world has become wider.
“I think what you have to look at, and I mean, I've been with the team for a year, Hathu's been back for a year. I think the thing you need to look at is what has changed from 2007 to now. If Bangladesh is still doing the same thing they were doing in 2007, then it shouldn't be a surprise that they haven't moved forward. And the rest of the world has moved forward, therefore the gap has become bigger.
“So that's the question we need to be asking. What is different now to 2007? Not what we need to do. I'm telling you what we need to do. We need to find power from somewhere if you want to compete at T20 cricket. That's all around the world.”
“I think one thing you've got to acknowledge is you can't fight genetics. You have to have a genetic predisposition to power initially. I mean, we've seen what Rishad can do. Rishad has improved and come on since that New Zealand series to now. He has been unbelievable in how fast he has improved. It turns into a key, how fast he's improved. But power is something that takes a lot of time. If you're not predisposed to being strong, West Indians don't have to find power. They're born with power. We're not born with power, so we have to do it a different way. We're looking at the strength and conditioning element, we're looking at different things of how we can do it a Bangladeshi way.
“But when you look at a competition like the IPL, if you as a player want to be successful, you have no choice. You have to go and find it yourself. Because at the end of the day, each player is his own business. He's got to run his own business. He can't wait for other people to do it for him. So, the IPL has created that, and it's created it around the world because all the players around the world now want to go to the IPL.
“You look at kids like Stubbs, for example. He's a big kid, but he didn't play for before IPL. People saw the power and it's worth money. So, you come across but power is king. And some people are born with it, some people aren't. But if you aren't, you can't say, well, I don't have it. We've got to find a way. We've got to find solutions,” the former South African batter elaborated.
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