Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons on Wednesday hinted that the team is likely to stick with the opening pair of Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Saif Hassan for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand.
Simmons said the opening combination appears settled for now, with the team unlikely to make changes at the top of the order. Saif, who struggled in the previous series against Pakistan, returned to form with an unbeaten 138 in a practice match on Monday, while Tanzid scored a century against Pakistan in the series decider.
Speaking at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Simmons highlighted the importance of continuity. “I think we’ve sort of settled because we’ve had a good partnership in the last series, and then in the warm-up game here, Saif showed that he’s getting back to what we expect him to be. So I think we’re settled for now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Soumya Sarkar, who did not feature in the Pakistan series despite being the highest scorer in the previous series against the West Indies, is expected to remain on the sidelines for at least the first two matches of the New Zealand series.
On Soumya’s chances, Simmons suggested the batter is currently outside the playing XI. “My thoughts are still the same. Soumya is excellent. He played well against West Indies. But we had to make that choice,” he said.
However, Simmons added that Soumya will need to push harder to regain his place in the side, noting his lack of recent game time. “He missed a lot of cricket between the West Indies series, during the BPL and leading up to the DPL. So we had to make that choice and unfortunately for him, they did well, so he has to keep pushing to get back there.”
