'We really can't play powerful cricket' - Liton Das highlights Bangladesh's concerns going into T20 World Cup 2022

Liton Das, the Bangladeshi batter, bemoaned the fact that his team lacks the power-hitting ability and that it could be a major factor in their poor performances in the future run. He feels that if they do not improve in this area of the game, it may be a setback for the team in this year’s T20 World Cup which is set to begin in October in Australia.

In the third and final T20I of the three-match series against West Indies, Bangladesh were able to score 163 for five thanks to Das’ 41-ball 49 and Afif Hossain’s 38-ball 50, but the Windies hitters demonstrated why that kind of total was inadequate on a strong hitting-friendly surface. Das feels that the power-hitting part was what bit them in their five-wicket loss against the hosts.

“No one in our team is as powerful as [Kyle] Mayers – they [West Indies batters] can clear big grounds at will. We are not capable of it. We always think about hitting fours. They hit more sixes. This is the difference that always exists. We are behind most of the big teams in the T20s. We have a lot to work on. We really can’t play powerful cricket,” Das was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

The only thing we can do is play a lot of matches: Liton Das

While West Indies hit 23 fours in the series, Bangladesh were one step ahead, hitting 31 fours. But when compared to the number of sixes hit by both the teams in the series, the hosts were way ahead of the visitors, as West Indies batters hit a total of 21 sixes, which were six more than what Bangladesh had managed.

“There’s always talk of T20 being a game of skills, technique, and tactics, but I feel power-hitting is needed sometimes. We will be playing the World Cup in a country where the grounds are big. It will hurt us. The only thing we can do is play a lot of matches so that we can go into the tournament with confidence,” said Liton.

In the recent T20I match, Bangladesh failed to defend the target of 164 runs as the West Indies power-hitters Nicholas Pooran and Kyle Mayers anchored the innings and completed the chase after the visitors picked three early wickets. West Indies went on to win the Test series as well as the T20I series by 2-0.