ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 17, 2021

Russell Domingo

Oman Cricket Academy Ground

Bangladesh

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. What was wrong last night basically with the game, and the next two games are do-or-die matches because if you want to qualify the second round then you have to win the game. What is the team mood now?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Look, obviously the guys are very disappointed with last night's performance. I thought for the first 13 or 14 overs we bowled fantastically well when we had them 50 for 6 and I think we made a few errors, which got them into a score which was competitive.

Then didn't start well with the bat, dug ourselves into a bit of a hole, got back into it, needed 18 then, two wickets down and then made some mistakes again.

Look, there was some positives, but obviously everybody bitterly disappointed with the way the result went, and we know that we've got our work cut out tomorrow. Oman are playing good cricket. They're positive; they're the home nation. They want to get into the next round, so we know it's going to be another tough one for us tomorrow night. But the boys know if they play their best cricket, we'll have a good chance tomorrow.

Q. For you personally, how do you define the defeat? How did it come to you, just as a shock or disappointment or surprise or anything else maybe?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Look, as a coach you never take any win for granted, so although we're badly disappointed with the result, that's the nature of the game. It's the nature of cricket, and it's the nature of coaching, it's the nature of sport. If you knew what the result was going to be, you wouldn't come and watch.

I think as a coach you've got to be able to deal with it. You've got to make sure that you focus on the next game now and not let the mistakes you made yesterday be repeated tomorrow. We've got to talk about it, learn from it, but then got to move forward into tomorrow's game because tomorrow's game is what's ahead of us. What's done is done, there's nothing we can do about it; we've just got to learn from those mistakes and focus on tomorrow's game.

Q. Oman and the Oman team are in very good spirit; they've already beaten the PNG team and they are playing in their home ground. Do you think how tough it will be to beat them? I think maybe you have to define if they took Scotland team very lightly and do you going to do the same against Oman?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Well, firstly, we didn't take Scotland lightly. I know Scotland's last game against Bangladesh they beat Bangladesh, as well, so there was by no means a level of complacency going into yesterday's game.

Regarding tomorrow's game, we've got to show Oman great respect, but we've also got to back ourselves that if we play to our potential that we can beat them. We know that they're going to -- they are confident. They're playing at home. They've come off a good win.

But we can't focus on them, we've got to make sure we focus on our particular performance and our skills and our goals that we want to set for tomorrow's game, and I think that's our main focus at the moment, very much on ourselves, on our team, where we need to improve, and not so much on our opposition.

Q. We couldn't capitalise on the powerplay in the last two home series. It's the same thing we have seen here in the last matches; we couldn't capitalise on the powerplay. How do you think about that? Where is the problem actually, especially the openers or the top order batsmen?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Look, I don't think you can compare playing in Dakar's powerplays to these powerplays. Totally different. The average score here for a powerplay is between 40 and 45, so it's not that high, as well. I looked at some of the warmup games played around in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well. All teams seem to have struggled in the powerplay, so I don't think it's those 50-, 60-run powerplays.

I do think here wickets in end are important. If you can set up a good pace, get to 35, 45 in the first six, that allows you to launch at the back end, but we've got to address the powerplay a bit better than we have. We've made a few mistakes, errors in judgment, played a few shots maybe we shouldn't have played, then stopped playing shots when maybe we should be playing shots.

We need to find that right balance between attack and defense in the six overs because you don't want to be too defensive but you also can't afford to be too attacking. It's just finding that right balance at the moment that's important for us.

Q. Last night Mahmudullah said if it's needed, the batting order would be reshuffled. What do you think? Do you guys have any thought of reshuffling the batting order?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Look, I'm always a fan of having a left-hand and right-hand at the wicket, so we will look at our batting lineup tomorrow to try and have different types of players batting at the same time and not maybe similar types of players. So something we have discussed, but more in depth and something we'll possibly look to do tomorrow. Might not be major changes, but there might be one or two tweaks to the batting lineup.

As you've seen in the series against Australia and New Zealand, our batting lineup particularly was pretty flexible. We often used Afif sometimes at five and sometimes at seven, sometimes Sohan at five, so just depends very much on the situation and the bowlers that are bowling at the moment.

Q. When Bangladesh played against Australia and New Zealand at home there was a criticism that batting practice was not good enough, the way the batsmen went on on those two series. Do you think that the preparation-wise from batting perspective we have fallen behind a bit?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: No, I don't think so. I don't think any batsmen walks out to the wicket thinking about what they felt like six weeks ago when they played in Bangladesh because we've had really good preparation. Yeah, we've had a few warmup games in good pitches, so players are coming in with a good mindset. I don't think what's happened in the last three or four weeks or three or four weeks ago on those wickets has any bearing to what's happening at the moment. I'm pretty comfortable with that.

Q. Obviously first game was also a pressure game for Bangladesh and they went on to lose the game. The next game against Oman will be a lot more pressure match for everyone. How do you talk to your team, like how to overcome this pressure situation? Like Bangladesh often breaks down whenever there's extra pressure, and win-or-lose situation is pretty much go out and play your own game. What are the areas you think you need to work on as a team to cope with this pressure, and do you believe that the boys also have to believe that they can go on to the Super 12 stage from this situation?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: The first part of the question is what do we focus on. I think really important in big games is to do your basic disciplines well. You don't need to be too fancy to try and play -- you don't need to do anything spectacular. You just need to make sure you nail your basics, have guys bat through the innings, make sure you're rotating strike, making sure you give your bowlers something to bowl at when you do bat. If you do those basics well and focus on that, often you are able to do well in pressure situations.

Regarding the second question, definitely the boys are confident we can still get through here. I have great belief in the boys. They've played some really tight games over the last year and have come out on top, so I think the boys are full of belief that we can overcome Oman tomorrow and overcome Papua New Guinea in the next game and put ourselves in a position where we can still qualify for the main event in a few weeks' time. I don't have any any questions regarding the self-belief going into tomorrow's game.

Q. Just a question about opening partnership. Naim played 16 straight games before the World Cup, but he was dropped in the first match. You guys are preparing him for the big event but he's not in the first match. How do you explain that?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Yeah, look, it was a very difficult decision, and Shomo played yesterday because we had Mahmudullah couldn't bowl. We didn't have a sixth bowling option except for Afif, and we thought if there's a bit of dew around and the ball is difficult for the spinners to grip, we might need somebody else to bowl some seam. Shomo was the guy that was earmarked to do that, and that's the only reason he played yesterday. Naim has been fantastic for us, but we needed another bowling option with Mahmudullah Riyad not being able to play with his back niggles he's had. Mahmudullah's fit and should be able to bowl if need be tomorrow, so we can get Naim back into the starting eleven.

Q. One thing about the three senior batters, they are batting at 110 and 100 straight. How do you explain that, and do you think of them as liabilities in terms of batting in the middle overs?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Who is this?

Q. Shakib, Mushfiq and Mahmudullah. They are not firing at the moment as batsmen.

RUSSELL DOMINGO: You can never say that they are liabilities. They're world-class players. They know that maybe yesterday they didn't play to the levels that they normally used to playing to, but they're champion cricketers from Bangladesh, and I have no reason to question their quality or their capabilities in this particular format.

Just a few weeks ago Riyad won us games chasing against Australia and New Zealand, so I think they have (indiscernible) performance. I think they've been world-class players from Bangladesh. A couple weeks ago Riyad was winning us games with the bat against Australia. For sure they know they didn't probably bat at their best level yesterday. Riyad hasn't played a warmup game so he may be a little bit rusty, but I can never question their quality when it comes to this particular format. I know there's big performances around the corner from him.

Q. Yesterday the maximum batters got out by catch. They tried to play overhead shot. This was the planning for your team, to play big shot and got out?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Well, you've got to play shots. If you don't play shots, you're not going to get runs. Unfortunately that's the nature of the game in T20 cricket.

If everybody knew how to get runs every single time, everybody would get 200, but the game doesn't work like that. The guys are human; they're going to make mistakes. They're not robots. Nobody is perfect. I think as long as we're learning from those mistakes and we're trying to improve, that's the main thing for us. Everybody makes mistakes. Nobody does it on purpose. Nobody hits a ball in the air on purpose to get caught. They're just trying their best. Some days it works, some days it doesn't.

Q. Bangladesh is playing the second night game; you were chasing yesterday, and your plans didn't work properly and it led to too much runs to take. What will be the strategy if you win the toss against Oman?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: I can't tell you that because then Oman will know. Look, at the end of the day we need to see what conditions are like tomorrow. We know there's been a lot of dew around. There was dew again last night, so bowling does become a little bit harder when the ball is wet and the outfield is wet, but we'll assess tomorrow once we have a look at the pitch and once we've seen what the wicket does in the first game before us tomorrow afternoon.

Q. Any lineup batting change? Any change in the batting lineup?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Yeah, there will be one change tomorrow, but we'll announce that when we get to the ground tomorrow.

Q. Do you think that experience will help you to win against Oman?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Absolutely. I'm expecting my big players, my senior players in terms of Mushi, Shakib, Riyad to lead the side really well tomorrow. It's in games like this where we need those big players to stand up, and I have no doubt those guys will put in a big performance tomorrow, so yep, I'm backing them to put in a big shift for us tomorrow.

Q. Do you feel that the players are maybe putting too much pressure on themselves trying to perform against these teams? I'm not denigrating these teams, but I'm just saying that maybe they're trying to put too much pressure on themselves, and do you think they're enjoying this phase?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Look, we chatted about it; whenever you come to World Cups there's always massive pressure, particularly a cricket-loving nation like Bangladesh where every performance gets scrutinized, every mistake gets magnified. So players are under pressure. There's no doubt about it. But that's why they play for their country, because they're privileged to be in this position.

We've got to embrace that sort of pressure, and hopefully it brings the best out of the boys. Look, it's a big game for us tomorrow. We know it's a high-pressure environment, but that's why you play these games. That's why you play World Cups, because these are the type of games you want to be winning, so it's a great opportunity for the boys tomorrow.

Q. BCB President shows his disappointment about batting position, especially according to the situation. He criticized Shakib, Mushfiq and Mahmudullah's batting efforts. What are your thoughts about that?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: I'm not here to talk about the president. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. For me, I'm not criticizing any of my players. I've got full faith in them, full belief in them. What's outside of the team, not important to me at the moment. My focus is very much on my team and making sure that we back them 100 per cent tomorrow to put in a big performance.

Q. Coach, I would just like to know what did you make of the shot selection of Mushfiqur, considering that these kind of shots have been played in the past, as well? So given all of that, what did you make of that?

RUSSELL DOMINGO: Like I said earlier, if he hits that, it goes for 4, everybody says, great shot; he misses it, he gets out, everybody says poor shot. That's the nature of T20 cricket. Players have got to be allowed to make decisions on the field that they think is the best interest of the team. They're not robots. They're human beings. They're going to make mistakes. They're going to get things wrong, but we've got to just make sure that we learn from those mistakes and try not to do those things too often.