Marufa Akter is an important pace bowler for the Bangladesh Women’s Cricket Team. concerns were raised by her fans and experts as she was benched in a recent match against Malaysia during the Women’s Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
In her past 17 matches before the match against Sri Lanka, she had not completed her full quota of overs. Bangladesh had been left to cover up her overs with someone else especially as the game wore on.
Strengths And Areas Of Improvements
Marufa Akter has established herself as an important character for the Bangladesh Bowling department, with her skills she effectively plays at the beginning of the innings.
However, there is always some area of improvement left no matter how good you do, The same with the bowler her effectiveness diminishes in the death overs where her bowling becomes more predictable and less economical.
The Perspective Of Her Coach:
Hashan Tillakaratne, the head coach, acknowledged Marufa’s challenges in the death overs. He mentioned that they are working on adding variations to her bowling, such as a slower ball and yorker to make her less predictable after the power play.
“We found out that she is a little expensive in the death overs and that is one of the reasons she didn’t bowl four overs in that period (for more than a year). We have come out with a new plan we want to finish her a little earlier before the 17th is over and we worked with her and wanted to add some variations in her armory like the slower balls and yorkers, especially after the power play she has to have pace variations and work on not to be too predictable and she is working the fast bowling coach and I am surely she will learn in days to come,” the former Sri Lankan star explained as a matter of fact.
Apart from this Marufa herself has accepted that controlling her bowling in the death overs is her recent focus. She is now working on pace variation and other skills to improve her performance.
