Simmons, when talking to the reporters in Lahore on Tuesday ahead of the T20 sereis against Pakistan to start today, first of all remarked on the strenfth of Tigers’ bowling unit, saying – “Our bowling is usually our stronger suit in this format.”
Following the absence of the Tigers’ pace spearhead Taskin Ahmed, unavailable of the other ace fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman due to injury is a big blow for Bangladesh team and Nahid Rana is not also part of the squad but the head coach Phil Simmons expects the rest of the pace attack to step up.
Taskin has been suffering from an ankle injury that has kept him out of competitive cricket for the last two months and Mustafizur ruled out having up a thumb injury in his last IPL 2025 game for Delhi Capitals last week.
“You miss your senior seamers," Simmons said on the sidelines of Bangladesh's training session in Lahore on Monday evening. "As we saw, how Fizz (Mustafizur) was bowling in the IPL then. We will miss him. It is also a chance for somebody to take his place in this series. Let's hope one of the bowlers decide that he wants to fill in for Fizz in this series. Our bowling is usually our stronger suit in this format. But having two senior bowlers, Taskin and Fizz, out, then it balances off.”
Khaled Ahmed replaced Mustafizur, as Bangladesh's selectors called up him but they didn't make any replacement for Nahid Rana who has opted out of the tour due to personal reason. In absence of the premier pace trio, Bangladesh pace unit is comprised with Khaled, Tanzim Hasan, Hasan Mahmud and Shoriful Islam when all rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz also replaced the injured Soumya Sarkar, in a bid to boost up their bowling attacks.
Simmons, meanwhile believes that the team mood is upbeat despite suffering the sreis defeat (2-1 ) to UAE and the former Caribbean expects the side to bounce back in Lahore to win the three-match series.
The former opening batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler of the West Indies (1987-1999) Simmons said, “It was difficult to lose the series in UAE, but then sometimes that lifts you up. Our morale has been great, so we are hopeful (the result in UAE) will lift us up.
"I think there's always a great chance of winning the series. People keep saying Pakistan are not playing well. Again, it is about what happens on the day. We have a good chance of winning the series here. We are working hard very hard to try to improve in all aspects. Hopefully we get better in this series," Simmons added.
Simmons also welcomed new fast-bowling coach Shaun tait into the setup. Tait joined the side in Lahore for his first assignment after being given the appointment for two years. Simmons said that he will get a fair understanding of how the Pakistan players performed in the PSL as both Tait and Mushtaq Ahmed, Bangladesh's spin bowling coach, worked in the tournament with Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi, respectively.
