Photo: Firoz Ahmed
The selection of five pacers in the Bangladesh squad was a major talking point ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan, slated to begin today at Dhaka. Inevitably, even a day ahead of the match, discussions surrounded the greenish pitch. However, conditions can change pretty fast in Mirpur, but above all else the Tigers were looking for good Test match conditions in order to grow.
Of the last 10 Tests that the Tigers have played, they won only one while losing eight. Thus their search for consistency in the format is an ongoing process. In the context of competitiveness, there are no World Test Championship points to be had from the match as it is not part of the WTC cycle.
Afghanistan left their best spinner Rashid Khan at home, which adds to the feeling that no one quite wants to risk stars during a World Cup year. The target then for Bangladesh will be to test their own strengths against an Afghan side that played their last Test in 2021 and are lacking in Test experience.
Tigers’ head coach Chandika Hathurusingha has a good idea about conditions and bluntly said that the wicket would behave like a sporting track. The specific plan is to test the team’s strengths in various conditions at home. After preparing green wickets against Ireland in Sylhet, the plan for Afghanistan was an extension of curating conditions conducive for the pace unit.
“Grass is green because of the rain the last few days. I have seen green wickets here before. We played against Ireland on a green wicket,” he said when asked about the greenish looking pitch.
“We have fast bowlers but we need to give them conditions that suits their strengths. We have good spinners as well. So, this game is only starting as a green wicket. With this heat, it will deteriorate very quickly and then it may help the spinners in the latter parts of the game. So, I think this pitch is a good, sporting wicket for everybody: batter, fast bowlers and spinners. So, I’d like to see a good contest,” Hathurusingha said at the press conference yesterday.
On the broader context of Test match philosophy, Hathrusingha was willing to let go of the rigidity of playing only in spin-friendly conditions at home while the search goes on for a particular brand of cricket.
“Before that Ireland series, we wanted to play a certain brand of cricket, regardless of the result. So yes, our endgame is to get results, but we want to understand how our skillset would last over five days and varying conditions, challenging us to play in a certain way.
“When we wanted to play and get some points, when we play the Test championship, we might tactically do different things, but this game is giving us an opportunity to play on a sporting wicket,” he added.
A member of the team management opined that such wickets would become more common at home if the pacers continued to rise. The top four pacers in Bangladesh Test setup — Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam — have produced just 19 wickets at home in the last two years. The very same speedsters accounted for a whopping 52 wickets away from home in the same period.
“Whether it’s a Test championship or not, we’ll find the way best-suited to us when we are playing at home. At the same time, we keep an eye on our development to play away from home,” the head coach said, driving his point home as Tigers look to test themselves and grow.
