Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (R) goes for a sweep during the team's practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim would probably trade his record with the coin with his win/loss record with the team. The wicketkeeper has so far had a hundred percent success with the toss although that is no marker for whether he can pick the coin rightly again when the second and final Test match against the visiting West Indies gets underway at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.
Among other things that Mushfiqur's men cannot control is the weather which put paid to what was shaping up to be a promising Test at Chittagong. And another thing they cannot control is the behaviour of the pitch at the home of cricket, which has shown up the hosts from time to time.
What they control though, is their own performance and Mushfiqur will be hoping that the team can carry on the good work from Chittagong to show their character in the longer-version game to impress the cricketing fraternity.
One thing that is however confirmed is that conditions will be altogether different than the Tigers' lucky ground in Chittagong and left-arm spinner Elias Sunny, the hero of the first match with seven wickets on debut, and company may toil for a wicket here. It is a different challenge and one that is not lost on Mushfiqur.
“It is the biggest match in my brief career. There is nothing to lose but we can achieve many things from this match,” he said.Coach Stuart Law has already set a new mantra for his charges, which is to play “smart cricket” and the Tigers often demonstrated their smartness in the series against this tenuous West Indies side.
And that is why Mushfiqur emphasized on good batting, bowling and fielding rather than focusing on the conditions while he was talking at a pre-match press conference yesterday prior to the second and final Test.
Refreshingly, it appeared that the wicketkeeper-batsman was very much clear about his team's job ahead of the second Test whose result will decide the fate of the series after the first match ended in a draw.
“Wicket and condition is not our main concern because you have to play in different conditions especially when you visit other countries. It was a bonus for us as the wicket in Chittagong helped our slow bowlers but it would be unwise to think that we get the same favour here. We need to do the things right which are in our hands than the wicket will not become a major factor,” stated the new Bangladesh skipper, who expressed his optimism about a positive outcome from their last match in the series.
“Definitely we will try to win the match. And if we can play consistently in five days than anything can happen in terms of result. So our main target is to play consistent cricket all through the match,” he added.
There had been a lot of positives in the Tigers batting in Chittagong Test but Mushfiqur called for a big score from the top order batsmen as he believes that batting is easier in Mirpur than in Chittagong.
“It's okay what we did in Chittagong but unfortunately nobody could convert their good start into a big one but we have to do it here and I believe we can do something big here because some of our batsmen like Tamim (Iqbal) has good scores in Mirpur. Batting is easy in Mirpur, so we have to capitalize on it,” observed Mushfiqur.
In the second Test onus apparently will be on the batsmen and the Bangla-desh captain said that: “temperament would be an important issue.”In any conditions Bangladesh looks on their number one spinner Shakib Al Hasan and there will be no exception in the second Test against West Indies but the Bangladesh skipper said that it's the pacers who will get the advantage.
“I think the pace bowlers will get the help from this condition. You know Rajib (Shahadat Hossain) had a six-wicket haul against South Africa in this ground. Pacers can exploit this condition with reverse swing,” opined Mushfiqur.
So, everybody will be looking to see how Bangladesh's inexperienced pace attack take the advantage and how the home side's slow bowlers, the main strength of the Bangladesh team, cope with the conditions.
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