DHAKA – Former South Africa cricket coach Russell Domingo, the new Bangladesh coach, wants to use the T20 tri-series at home, against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, as part of a roadmap towards the ultimate goal of the 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.
Bangladesh, ranked 10th in the world in Twenty20 Internationals, begin their tri-series campaign against Zimbabwe on Friday in Mirpur, and the coach hopes to use the games as a chance to try out new talent.
"We need to set our World Cup roadmap from this series," Domingo told reporters on Thursday.
"I think there are 20 games left. It sounds a lot, but it’s not as many because you are always not going to make it; two or three games might be rained off and we might end up playing 15 or 16 games leading to the World Cup.
"So we have to start planning because we've got some areas to develop prior to the World Cup to try and give the players as much experience under pressure as we possibly can.
"I will try to make a difference, I am trying to give some inputs. I am sitting down with visuals of the players and trying to work on areas that need improvement.”
Domingo admitted the team's strongest format was 50-over cricket. But with their next one-day international a while away, he hoped to prioritise Test and T20 cricket for now.
"When it comes to white-ball cricket, Bangladesh can beat anybody on the given day," he said. "We've got some world-class performers in our side.
“Just look at the experience of the team. In the 50-over World Cup, Bangladesh were the second-most experienced team. So there is no shortage of quality and no shortage of experience in this particular side. I think if we play to our potential, we will be hard to beat.”
Bangladesh's strength, especially at home, has been spin. However, they were beaten at their own game by Afghanistan, whose spinners won the one-off Test last week.
The coach agreed that, given the demands of the T20 format, the team needed to develop its pace attack.
"This is a different format and different conditions, and there is a World Cup in Australia," he said, "so you need to play some fast bowlers. I think it's important."