Bangladesh's senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin said the team are focused on improving batters' skills during the ongoing batting camp in Mirpur.
Under the supervision of head coach Phil Simmons, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) began a week-long batting camp on Saturday, where several T20 batters are working on developing their skills.
On the opening day, openers Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Parvez Hossain Emon trained closely with Simmons, alongside Salahuddin and Mohammad Ashraful. Many of the other batters, who aren't taking part in the ongoing final round of the National Cricket League, are expected to join the camp in the coming days.
Ashraful, who recently served as the specialised batting coach during Bangladesh's home series against Ireland, is expected to continue in the role at least until the ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled for February–March next year in India and Sri Lanka.
"Look, there is no end to improvement. Usually, people say that we lack skills, but we don't really get enough time to work on them because the players have an intensive international schedule -- they are always playing," Salahuddin told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
"So we often don't get opportunities to improve in those areas. Now that we have that chance, we want to see how the batters can develop their skills further, especially what is required in T20 cricket. Often, we play a good shot, but it goes straight to a fielder. We need to work on finding gaps, using pace, developing the ability to score boundaries with fewer risks, and also improving singles," he explained.
"We will work on these aspects as much as possible with whatever time we have. If the players can apply this in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), it will be satisfying for us and also beneficial ahead of the World Cup."
Meanwhile, Salahuddin admitted that despite recent success in Tests and T20 internationals, Bangladesh remain far from ideal in the one-day format, particularly based on their performances this year. He expressed hope that the situation will improve next year, when Bangladesh are scheduled to play a good number of ODI fixtures.
This year, Bangladesh played six Tests, 11 ODIs and 30 T20Is. They won three Tests and 15 T20Is but managed only three wins while losing eight matches in the 50-over format.
"We are somewhat close to the progress we wanted to make in T20 cricket, but I wouldn't say we have achieved a lot of success yet. Whatever success we've had has come in T20s because we've played regular series one after the other and progressed according to a World Cup plan," Salahuddin said.
"There are still areas for improvement, but we did get some results. The batters have started playing according to their roles. At times, some didn't perform as per their role, but at least they now understand what they need to do. Sometimes performances came, sometimes they didn't, but the understanding is there. If they build on this over the next two months, I believe the T20 team will be in a good position.
"Our Test team has experienced batters and is in a good position as well. We are improving day by day, and results are coming more or less," he added.
"But we've been playing very little one-day cricket, so results aren't coming there. Also, four or five players who had been playing ODIs regularly are no longer around, and to fill that gap we need to give the new players some time. Once they gain experience, I believe we will perform well in the one-day format too. With several ODIs scheduled next year, we should be able to cover those areas quickly," Salahuddin concluded.
