Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed believes that his team’s goal on a batting surface in Chattogram will be to force the game into the fifth day to have a chance of winning. Taskin, who returns after an injury layoff, believes it is critical to be patient on such surfaces.
“If we try to force the issue, it won’t work in our favour. We will leak runs. They are good players, so we have to get the new ball to swing a bit.
Maybe get reverse swing with the old ball. We have to try to break their patience. We have to bowl patiently and wait for their mistakes. It won’t be right to say that we want to blow them away.”
Ahmed said in an interview prior to the commencement of the Test series.
“Fast bowlers ideally want to bowl on green tops. Conditions are not in our hands. We have got slow and flat tracks in South Africa and New Zealand. We have to make ourselves so skilful that we can bowl well on all types of wickets. Great bowlers are also getting five-fors on flat tracks. We have to focus on our self-improvement rather than the conditions.”
Taskin believes that the Chattogram surface has always been a batting haven and that the bowlers have always found it challenging. Nevertheless, he was of the opinion that the bowling side must adapt to the conditions at hand, and added that while Bangladesh as a team are consistently improving, they have not been able to play on suitable tracks thus far. He also said that the Bangladesh strategy will be simple in that they will try to take the games into the final day, which has worked for them in the past.
Bangladesh have managed victory in just one of their eight Tests this year, with six of the remaining games ending in defeat. Having defeated India 2-1 in the the One-Day International series, the Bangla Tigers will be hell-bent on making an impact in the longer format as well, and will try to sneak in a win against the mighty Indians.
The two-match series begins on Wednesday at Chattogram’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. The action then turns to Dhaka for the series’ second and final Test, which takes place between December 22 and 26.
