Bangladesh have buried the ghost of Chittagong in style

In the last decade, the Tigers were involved in some of Test cricket’s most nail-biting encounters with the big boys of world cricket. Pakistan were given a run for their money at Multan in 2003, Australia were given a scare at Fatullah in 2006 and at Chittagong in 2008, Daniel Vettori's New Zealand were in the mud. But, in all those nerve-wracking contests,  the Tigers tasted a bitter experience which dented their self-confidence big time.

Doubts regarding Bangladesh’s mental strength

They failed to bounce back and essay the same sort of fight in the following Test matches.

Bangladesh experienced another heartbreak at Chittagong in 2016. It was the first Test of the two-match Test series between England and Bangladesh, and from the word go, the home team had the visitors in a stranglehold. The Test match went down to the wire like Multan and Fatullah, but at the end of the day, there was no change to the script – the Tigers were left stunned and heartbroken. The story of heartaches revisited and, it seemed, it would affect the morale of the team badly.

Thankfully, Chandika Hathurusingha is the coach of the team and he is one of those characters who studies the game very well and is well aware of how to handle his boys when such defeats pose a threat to the self-belief of the team. Chandika is like a father to his boys and never lets negative thoughts enter into their hearts. He sings positive songs and boosts the morale of his boys and prepares them for the next challenge.

The Tigers moved on and organized themselves for the next Test at Mirpur.

There were doubts that Bangladesh might not recover from the trauma at Chittagong and thus, they might fail to maintain their vim and dish out below-par performances in the second Test.

There were obvious signs of mediocrity at Mirpur – a terrible collapse in the first innings where nine wickets fell for just 49 runs, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid’s stubborn resistance for the ninth wicket aided by some ordinary captaincy from Mushfiq, Mahmudullah’s madness at the fag end of day 2 and Mushfiq’s lack of bite in captaincy yet again when England were going all guns blazing in the fourth innings – hinted of another cliff-hanger, but a frustrating defeat for Bangladesh.

Mehedi steps up

The complexion of the game changed after Tea on day 3. Mushfiq decided to attack and engaged his go-to-man in this series, Mehedi Hasan Miraz. Normally, Mushfiq is known to go on the backfoot when the opposition batsmen fetch runs fluently, but it was a different Mushfiq after Tea who wanted to break the partnership and fetch more wickets to put England under pressure.

Miraz struck gold with his first ball. All of a sudden, Bangladesh rediscovered their killer instinct.

There is a school of thought that during the break, Chandika expressed his anger towards the captain and other members of the team. He was annoyed with the lackluster attitude of the Tigers on the field and implored his men to show more character. Perhaps it worked as a tonic for Mushfiq and others.

Mushfiq started to attack and used Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan more. He surrounded the batsmen with close fielders who were like vultures, always waiting to bag a catch and a mayhem took place at Mirpur in the afternoon which created history as Bangladesh leveled the series by beating England.

Neither did Bangladesh lose their self-belief nor did they snatch another defeat from the jaws of victory. Instead, they bounced back from the terrible experience of Chittagong to outclass one of the top teams in Test cricket, England.

The ghost of Chittagong didn’t haunt the Tigers but instead they buried it in style at Mirpur.  

 This victory means a lot for Bangladesh cricket. For more than a decade, the Test status of Bangladesh has always been questioned. Pathetic performances with astonishing regularity only earned shame and the light at the end of the tunnel was hardly visible. Test victories came only against Zimbabwe and a second-string West Indies team, while against the big boys, Bangladesh were a disgrace.

Finally, Bangladesh have broken the hoodoo. Like the limited-overs team, the Test team of Bangladesh have exhibited the intent and hunger to win matches.

The Bangladesh Test team is not without flaws and this victory must not hide those. Still, there are areas, for example - shot selection, improving the batting technique against reverse swing, exhibiting composure during the critical passage of play, organizing the bowling attack with more emphasis on pace bowlers and a bit more dynamism in captaincy when the opposition is taking the upper hand  - where Bangladesh need to improve a lot.  

With Chandika around, it should not take long before Bangladesh find themselves mixing it with the big boys.

Note: This article has been published at Sportskeeda on 31/10/2016 Bangladesh have buried the ghost of Chittagong in style

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

What makes Mehedi Hasan so deadly against England?

The 19-year old’s first ball in Test cricket landed on a length and spun straight away and the next five deliveries were very accurate to keep Ben Duckett at bay. Immediately, the youngster gave everyone the impression that he was ready for the toughest format of the game. At the end of day 1 of the first Test at Chittagong, Mehedi was in a joyous mood.

Duckett, Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Stuart Broad were his six victims as he became the youngest Bangladeshi to bag a five-wicket haul on debut. The boy’s hunger for wickets did not diminish as he came back strongly in the second innings to nail the English captain Alastair Cook.

He was at it again in the first innings of the second Test at Mirpur as he made the life of the English top order batsmen difficult and he ended up bagging six wickets again.

Mehedi Hasan Miraz. He was on the radar of the national team selectors ever since his brilliant performance during the ICC Under 19 World Cup this year in Bangladesh. He was adjudged the Man of the Tournament and the critics were optimistic about his success at the highest level.

Miraz loves to smile. No one will ever see him in a gloomy mood. Even in the most pressurized situations, he maintains to keep the smile on his face. Perhaps, this quality of Miraz helps him absorb pressure to a great extent. He is humorous, loves to make fun with his friends, enjoys swimming and catching fish in the nearby pond of his village.He is youthful, but he can be a smiling assassin with the ball.

What makes Mehedi Hasan so deadly against England?

Miraz is an orthodox spin bowler with a round arm action.

His smartness lies in gripping the ball.Normally, a finger spinner would spread his first and second fingers onto the seam of the ball, ensuring that the main pressure is exerted on the first finger. But Miraz tends to deceive the batsmen with his grip. He shows the batsmen that he is gripping the ball with standard spread-fingers but instead, he holds the ball so that the forefingers run down the seam. His thumb adopts a sideways position.

So, whenever he releases the ball, it comes off the ends of the fingers. The batsmen expect the ball to turn into them, but instead, it turns away, which opens the opportunity for a caught behind or at slip or even a stumping.

Moreover, with the same grip, he is capable of imparting downward rip on the ball by cocking his wrist as if he is opening a doorknob in the direction of the spin and flicking it with his first finger.

Because of his round-arm action, instead of locking the elbow as a fast bowler would, Miraz maintains a slight angle bowling with a fractionally bent arm which allows him to get beside and under the ball easily. This allows his shoulder muscles to become more involved in imparting force on the ball.

Both at Chittagong and Mirpur, Miraz was seen to generate turn and bounce at pace. This was because the involvement of his shoulder muscles helped achieve such.

At such a young age, Miraz has the brain to read that length which will create problems for the opposition batsmen and seems to be at home in creating difficult angles while bowling round the wicket. Again, he has the courage to experiment his lengths and set the batsmen up.

On day 1, Miraz dished out quite a number of loose balls to Alastair Cook which were dispatched towards the boundary. Miraz pitched those balls either short or too full. In his next over, Cook was flummoxed by a beauty from Miraz which zipped on at pace to hit his back leg.

Cook was set up nicely and was not prepared for such a ripper of a delivery.

How do you counter it?

If a batsman needs to master Miraz’s bowling, he needs to disturb his length by using his feet more, come down the track and attack and above all, he needs to watch his grip and position of the seam carefully.

But all I can say is, Miraz is capable of bouncing back despite getting hit as he is blessed with a positive and fighting mindset. His success is not a flash in the pan, but it has been more due to his natural talent, skill, ability to learn quickly and the hunger for success.

It has been an encouraging start for the youngster and this bodes well for the future.

Note: This article was published at Sportskeeda on 29/10/2016 What makes Mehedi Hasan so deadly against England?

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Why Bangladesh collapsed on day 1 of the second Test against England

It was an exciting day of Test cricket at Mirpur on day 1. 13 wickets fell on the day and had rain not interfered, the duration of excitement would have been more as the English top order was found wanting again. Shakib Al Hasan struck gold first and then, it was the young sensation, Mehedi Hasan, who set jitters in the English batting line-up yet again.

Alastair Cook became his victim while the struggling Gary Ballance was dismissed cheaply again, leaving a big question mark over his selection.

But Bangladesh’s strike at the fag end of the day was not the most thrilling part, in fact, it was the collapse of the home team’s batting order which made the day an eventful one.

Imrul Kayes left the scene early, but Tamim Iqbal’s imperious form and Mominul Haque’s calm and cool presence gave Alastair Cook a scare, as they were well poised to build a strong platform. 

When England met Bangladesh last time at Mirpur six years ago, they experienced a birthday bash from Tamim and on day 1, they were treated with another exhibition of caution-mixed-with-aggression type of delicacy from the Bangladeshi southpaw. At the other end, Mominul provided the ideal foil to Tamim’s controlled aggression as they scripted a 170-run partnership for the second wicket in 41 overs.

Cook’s spinners let him down in the first session and he decided to rely on his strength – the pace bowlers – in the second session. The ball started to lose its shine and overcast conditions made him introduce a spin-and-pace bowling combination in search for a breakthrough.

Why did the Bangladeshi batting collapse in such bizarre fashion?

Moeen Ali struck first with the prized wicket of Tamim and in the twinkle of an eye, Bangladesh collapsed from 171 for 1 to 220 all out. Nine wickets fell for just 49 runs while five of them fell in the second session, which was the game-changer and it was when the English bowlers dished out one of those toughest sessions of Test cricket.

Of course, there were some obvious reasons behind this.

Firstly, in Test cricket, there happens to be a passage of play, which proves testing for the batsmen and England unleashed such a period from over 45 to 56.

When Adil Rashid’s sloppy bowling was releasing the pressure, Cook thought he had enough and threw the ball to his go-to-man Ben Stokes. The English captain persisted with Ali and engaged Ben Stokes from the other end and Stokes delivered his captain’s faith in him and was simply mesmerising from one end.

He banged the ball short at pace, made it move away from back of a length and brought it back into the batsmen which made run scoring a daunting task and the overcast conditions aided him a lot as well. Be it Trent Bridge or Mirpur, whenever the conditions are gloomy, the English pace bowlers are always deadly.

To survive in such tough periods, resolve is the most important thing and Bangladesh failed to exhibit it big time. In those eleven overs, Bangladesh needed to stay at the wicket, but they attempted too many shots and thus, succumbed. Moeen and Stokes plucked five wickets for 31 runs during their brief spell and Bangladesh lost their way.

Secondly, the lack of technique of the Bangladeshi batsmen while playing against reverse swing made them suffer a lot. It’s never an easy task to handle the reverse swing, but there are ways to counter it. One is composure and the other is an appropriate technique.   

While playing the reverse swing, a batsman needs to pay attention towards the shine of the ball, adjust his stance, footwork and back lift. It’s always ideal to open the stance a bit, locate the shine, whether it is directed towards midwicket or cover, delay the movement as late as possible, lower the back lift and not shuffle too much across the crease.

Sadly, the Bangladeshi batters failed to apply such techniques and were unsure about the destination of the ball after landing on the track and the outcome was not chummy at all.

Thirdly, England were smart enough to set up the Bangladeshi batsmen. As, for example, Mahmudullah was set up by Stokes intelligently.

The first ball of his 45th over was a beauty from a back of a length and the second one was another good ball, but till the 51st over, Stokes bowled almost 8-9 balls outside off from a length, apart from dishing out some late swings to Mahmudullah. He hammered one for four and felt Stokes could be neutralised by targeting the balls outside off.

In the 51st over, Stokes’ first three balls to Shakib were good ones from back of a length and outside off with a hint of reverse swing.

In the fourth ball, Stokes, who gave Mahmudullah the false sense of security that he will be easy to hit outside off, pitched one way outside off at which Mahmudullah poked at and the slip fielder took the catch to pile more pressure on the Bangladeshi batters.

The second session sapped away Bangladesh’s vim and even the likes of Shakib Al Hasan failed to rise to the occasion as it was Chris Woakes who carried on the good work of Stokes to dismiss Bangladesh’s last two hopes, Shakib and Shuvgata Hom.

Lastly, Bangladesh play fewer Test matches against the big teams and quality attacks. Had they played enough Test matches and faced such high-quality pace bowling regularly, they might have developed the art of resolve to survive the tough passages of play and polish their technique against reverse swing.

Note: This article has been published at Sportskeeda on 29/10/2016 Why Bangladesh collapsed on day 1 of the second Test against England

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

What should Bangladesh do ahead of the Mirpur Test

The ghosts of Multan and Fatullah revisited at Chittagong on the fifth day. Bangladesh were 33 runs away from creating history and the responsibility was on Sabbir Ahmed and the tail-enders to steer the ship safely to shore without making the weather heavy. 90 overs were available for the home team to bury the ghosts of Multan and Fatullah, but sadly, within 19 minutes of the final day, the hearts of the cricket fans of Bangladesh broke. The Bangladeshi ship of hope sunk in the Bay of Bengal leaving the nation stunned.

Yet another defeat, yet another day of unbearable pain which will haunt the fans and cricketers in the years to come.

But this Test match has not been without positives for the home team. Despite not playing a 5-day match in the international arena for more than a year, they showed tremendous character against one of the top Test teams in world cricket. They put chills down the spine of the English men and tested their nerves and skills.   

Within a few days, the second Test match will commence at Mirpur and Bangladesh should plan appropriately ahead of the Test so that, the spirited performance at Chittagong doesn’t seem to be a flash out of the pan.

Bangladesh should forget the memories of Chittagong and move on

After a brilliant display at Fatullah against the world champions Australia in 2006, Bangladesh surrendered meekly in the second Test and the story was same against Pakistan as well last year. After Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes’ defiant stand at Khulna, the Tigers were found wanting in the second Test and lost the match in an abysmal fashion. On both occasions, they failed to maintain their hunger, focus and form to test the oppositions.

After such a heartbreak, Bangladesh will be at risk of losing their focus from the game and the first thing the Tigers should do is to forget the traumatic memories of Chittagong as soon as possible and move on. The Chittagong Test match should act as a motivating factor and a big learning curve for the boys.

Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh captain, sounded positive during the press conference as he stated, “Sometimes you have a distinctive feeling after losing a game. We tried what we could. Nobody expected Bangladesh to play in this manner after 15 months, so we had to prove that we could do something. We could show our character to a side like England. They have a lot of experienced players. I wouldn't use the word frustrating, but I would call it a learning experience”.

Inspiring words from the captain and it hints, he has not been broken by the overall outcome of the match. He also stated about the positives gained from this Test and the areas where his team should improve more.

That’s the way to go.

Maintaining this fighting spirit in the second Test will be the main task for Bangladesh at Mirpur.

Sabbir should bat up the order

It never seemed that Sabbir Rahman was playing his first ever Test match, but his calm and composed presence at the crease made everyone felt, he had been playing Test match for more than four or five years. Many in Bangladesh used to portray him as a swashbuckler, but each and every time they failed to notice Sabbir’s ability to keep the ball on the ground while executing the drives with pristine timing. He has a very good technique and using him lower down the order is nothing but a waste.

Sabbir, if he is fit to play at Mirpur, should bat at number five instead of Shakib Al Hasan while Mushfiq coming in at number six and Shakib at seven. Shakib has been batting at number five for a while, but in my opinion, it will be a wise act to compromise with a batsman who’s more composed than Shakib and let Shakib play in the team as a genuine bowling allrounder.

Inclusion of an allrounder at number eight    

The emergence of Mehedi Hasan has given the Bangladeshi attack the extra mojo and the support which Shakib Al Hasan is needed. Mehedi’s heroics with the new ball struck gold for the Tigers, but he is yet to come of age with the bat, even though, he’s known as an allrounder.

In that sense, the number eight position is not ideal for him and should come out to bat at number nine. Meanwhile, Bangladesh need to fit another allrounder at number eight position, who can prove a point both with the bat and ball. Bangladesh do have the better options for this position.

Players like Soumya Sarkar, Shuvagata Hom and Mosaddek Hossain, who has been included in the team as a cover of Sabbir who fell sick after the first Test, are the options available for Bangladesh. Among these players, Shuvagata is a hard working cricketer, but seldom creates an impact. Mosaddek is yet to make his Test debut, but showed his capabilities in the 50-over matches, both with the ball and bat. Meanwhile, Soumya is one of those players, who is capable of creating an impact with the bat while his three quarter length stuffs can be helpful in keeping one end tight.

In my opinion, Soumya can be a very good option at number eight.

Bangladesh should play only one pacer         

  

I hate to say this, but at present, Bangladesh don’t have enough quality pacers available for the Test matches. And for which, it will be fair enough to invest faith in just one pacer while Soumya, if he plays, can play the role of the second seamer. As Shafiul Islam has been rested, the options for Bangladesh are, Kamrul Islam and Subashis Roy. 

Kamrul Islam has been a total waste at Chittagong and his body language indicated, he lacked the attitude of a fast bowler and self belief. Bangladesh might give Subashis a chance as this guy has been proving his worth on the dead wickets for a long time and his average and strike rate is way better than Kamrul in first class cricket. 

A plan for Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes has been the thorn in the throat for Bangladesh throughout the series. Both with the ball and bat, he has been a champion. While batting, he mixes caution with aggression very well and while bowling, he is a handy customer, especially with the old ball, he reverses it at will to flummox the batsmen.

But Ben Stokes can be vulnerable with the bat if the ball is delivered at pace on a fuller length. Shakib proved this in the first innings when he exposed his defense by pitching it on a touch-full in and around the middle and off stump with a quicker delivery. While Sabbir showed how his reversing deliveries can be countered by staying back and behind the line of the ball.    

Bangladesh should utilize the lessons learned in Chittagong productively at Mirpur so that the outcomes are good and not frustrating. 

Note: This article has been published at Wr8sports on 25/10/2016 What should Bangladesh do ahead of the Mirpur Test

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

How the track at Chittagong made the Bangladesh and England battle enthralling

Ben Stokes, the tall and strong English allrounder, pitched the third ball of the 82nd over on a good length, which moved into Shafiul Islam after pitching and hit his front pad. Stokes and England appealed. The on-field umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, who had a wretched time in the middle throughout the Test match, raised his finger as he thought, Shafiul was not offering a shot.

Bangladesh reviewed, but the decision of the on-field umpire was upheld and thus, it brought an end to one of the most memorable Test matches of this year.  

What a Test match it had been! It was full of eventful moments, well-orchestrated fight backs, exhibition of high profile all round capabilities of two of the best allrounders in the world at the moment, the story of two outstanding debutants – Sabbir Rahman and Mehedi Hasan, who gave the impression to everyone, they are the next big things not only in Bangladesh, but also for world cricket, and of course, the track without which, the story of Chittagong would not have been a part of Test cricket’s folklore.

The Chittagong deck

According to the modern day cricket experts, the definition of a good pitch is all about the ball coming into the bat nicely and scoring runs in plenty with little on offer for the bowlers. Such decks help to rearrange a batsman’s statistical achievement, but at the end of the day, Test cricket suffers a lot either due to dull draws or heavily one-sided contests.

The real charm of Test matches gets killed and thus, sow the seeds of doubts about the future of Test cricket and allow some so-called modern experts to sing the song about the death of Test cricket.

Meanwhile, the tracks which offer a bit for the bowlers and tests the batters, are termed as not ideal for Test cricket by the modern day experts. Such an opinion does leave one astonished. If one looks back at the story of the most exciting finishes in the history Test cricket, it was the ‘not ideal’ tracks and the bowlers hugely responsible for dishing out stories which became invaluable for the cricket writers and fans.

If I need to pick up the most important factor behind the epic clash at Chittagong, then, I would definitely vouch for the deck. From a modern day perspective, it was not an ideal deck and I must say, Test cricket was lucky to have such.

The track offered bounce on which the new ball bowlers were able to cash in and so were the spinners. As the day progressed, the track started to slow down, but not to a greater extent. The bounce varied and thus, created doubts in the minds of the batsmen. The spinners enjoyed bowling while, the English pacers, who are well-equipped to move the old ball, cashed in big time on this track.

Neither was it a minefield for the batsmen. It didn’t offer any scope to exhibit free-flowing strokeplay, but it wanted the batsmen to play the ball according to their merit. It wanted the batsmen to play the ball late and getting behind the line of the ball against the spinners and limited the batters from playing the pacers by getting towards the side of the ball. A bit of a gap between the bat and pad proved fatal and there was no place for sloppy foot-work.

The track helped us to enjoy the ebbs and flows of Test match cricket. It cut short the urge to exhibit crazy stroke-play and forced the batsmen to infuse composure and exhibit appropriate shot selections. For a single moment, dullness didn’t intervene at Chittagong and kept the spectators on the edge throughout the four and half intriguing days of Test match cricket.

Moreover, due to this track, the Bangladeshi cricket followers could understand the value of leaving the ball, occupying the crease and the importance of maneuvering the strike in a 5-day game.

The Bangladeshis love to relish boundary-based batting, but in Chittagong, they cheered when Sabbir took singles and twos, Mushfiq left the ball and Tamim Iqbal invested less faith in big shots. At the other end, they didn’t mind when the English batters hit big shots, but felt beaten, when Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes rotated the strike freely during that all important partnership in the third innings.

Few months back, Sachin Tendulkar said, “The wickets need to change; they need to be more helpful for bowlers. In T20s, the greatest of bowlers are being reverse-swept. Three-hundred is no longer competitive in ODIs. So there should be at least one format where bowlers have a better chance of executing their skills and making it more interesting for spectators”.

Words of wisdom from the great man and one must not forget, in any format of the game, if the bowling has the upper hand, the contest becomes simmering. And if the bowlers are needed to make the contest a gripping one, the track has to be a sporting one.  

The Bangladeshi curators prepared a fantastic track which enriched Test cricket a lot and for the survival of Test cricket, such tracks are a must.

Note: This article was published at Sportskeeda on 24/10/2015 How the track at Chittagong made the Bangladesh and England battle enthralling

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

বাংলাদেশী ব্যাটসম্যানদের ধীরস্থিরতা এবং মাথা খাঁটিয়ে খেলা প্রশংসনীয়

এক বছরের ও বেশী সময় ধরে কোন টেস্ট ম্যাচ না খেলা সত্ত্বেও বাংলাদেশ ভালো লড়াই করেছে। স্টিল, আমরা টেস্ট ম্যাচ জিতেতে পারতাম যদি সাব্বির তাইজুলকে বেশী স্ট্রাইক না দিত। আসলে, সাব্বির ইংল্যান্ডের রিং-ফিল্ডের ট্র্যাপটা বুঝতে পারেনি। ওটা এমন ভাবে সেট করা হয়েছিলো যেন সাব্বির সিঙ্গেল নেয় এবং ওটা সে নিয়েছে।

ইংল্যান্ডের টার্গেট সাব্বির ছিলো না বরঞ্চ তাদের টার্গেট ছিলো তাইজুল আর তাই তো ঐ রিং-ফিল্ডের টোপ তৈরি করা যেটা একজন ব্যাটসম্যানকে সিঙ্গেল নিতে উৎসাহিত করে। এটা সাব্বিরের প্রথম টেস্ট আর তাই হয়ত এই সূক্ষ্ম ব্যাপারটা ওর মাথায় আসেনি। সাব্বিরের জায়গায় অন্য কোন ডেবুটেন্ট হলেও এই ফাঁদে পা দিত।

এটা সাব্বির এবং বাংলাদেশ টিমের জন্য ভালো শিক্ষা যেটা ভবিষ্যতে কাজে দিবে।

আমার মনটা কিছুটা হলেও খারাপ কিন্তু কিছু পজেটিভ ব্যাপার আমার মনটাকে ভালো রাখতে সহায়তা করছে।

যেমন, এই ধরনের ট্র্যাকে আমাদের ব্যাটসম্যানদের ধীরস্থিরতা এবং মাথা খাঁটিয়ে খেলা।

মূলত, বাংলাদেশী ব্যাটসম্যানরা, স্ট্রোক খেলতে বেশী পছন্দ করে এবং সেজন্য বেশীরভাগ ক্ষেত্রেই ক্রিজে তারা টিকে থাকতে পারে না। টেস্ট ক্রিকেটে উন্নতি না করার বিভিন্ন কারনের মধ্যে এটা অন্যতম ছিলো।

কিন্তু চট্টগ্রাম টেস্টে দেখা গেছে, আমাদের টপ ওর্ডার ব্যাটসম্যানরা ক্রিজে টিকে তো থেকেছেই, তার ওপর, স্ট্রাইক রোটেসন ও ভালো করেছে যেটা পার্টনারশিপ গড়তে সহায়তা করেছে। এছাড়াও, লাফিয়ে ওঠা বলের বিরুদ্ধে তারা বলের লাইনের পেছনে গিয়ে ভালোভাবে ডিফেন্ড করেছে এবং বল যখন শার্প টার্ন করেছে, পারফেক্ট ফুটওয়ার্কের মাধ্যমে সেগুলোকে খুবই লেট খেলেছে।

এসব ব্যাপার আমাদের ব্যাটসম্যানদের মধ্যে আগে ছিলো না কিন্তু এখন এই অভ্যাস গুলো গড়ে উঠছে। এগুলো চান্ডিকা হাথুরুসিংহের অবদান যেটা মেইন স্ট্রিম মিডিয়ার অনেকেই স্বীকার করতে চাইবে না। কেন চাইবে না, সেটা জানি না।

ধন্যবাদ

ফয়সাল সিজার

Why Bangladesh might struggle against England in the Test series

It’s a five-day game. It’s the test of a team’s stamina and concentration. It’s the examination of a team’s technique and temperament, both of which can be tested in different ways and multiple times in a day. This is the format where the greatest cricketers are born and mediocrity gets vanquished once and for all.

After Zimbabwe, Bangladesh were awarded the Test status sixteen years ago. While Zimbabwe failed to live up to the expectations in the best format of the game due to their internal problems, Bangladesh’s journey has not been encouraging as well. More often than not, their performance in the longest format has been the subject of harsh criticism. But still, they are surviving in the topsy-turvy world of Test cricket and are all set to face one of the best teams in the world on October 20 at Chittagong.  

Without a doubt, England are the favorites in this two-match Test series and as a team, they are way better than the hosts. Still, there is a lot of interest regarding this Test series, among the cricket followers and the reason is, Bangladesh’s outstanding performance for the last one and half years in limited-overs cricket.

Since the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the Tigers’ performance in the limited-overs format has become a subject of interest for everyone. So far, their recent prosperity is a role model for the emerging cricketing nations and on cricketing talk shows, the example of Bangladesh is highlighted with a greater importance. 

But sadly, the success in the 50-over format or Twenty20 is not enough to prove a point in Test cricket.

As soon as the colours of the clothes change, Bangladesh lose the services of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain and a few others and thus, find the going tough.

Strong batting, weak bowling

They did realize the value of having a potent bowler in Test cricket when Mustafizur Rahman triggered a collapse at Chittagong last year against South Africa. All of a sudden, Bangladesh found themselves in the driver’s seat. But at the moment, they will be without the services of Mustafizur against England due to an injury. 

The Tigers have announced a 14-man Test squad for the first Test against England. As soon as you read the names from the start, you feel it’s a good team as the names of Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib, and co. jump out at you, but you tend to lose hope after reading the names in the latter part of the squad. 

The bowling attack of Bangladesh is not as competent as the batting line up and it is the weakest link of the Bangladesh Test squad.

Shafiul Islam’s medium pace, a struggling Taijul Islam’s left-arm orthodox and new pacer Kamrul Islam Rabbi, who averages 40.89 from 47 first class matches, are the front line bowlers to aid Shakib. The pressure on the ace all-rounder will be immense and one cannot expect him to take twenty wickets.

Defensive mindset

Bangladesh are expected to pack the team with eight batters and three frontline bowlers and the plan is to survive rather than show positive intent. But when you play to survive, you cannot learn how to win and possibilities of a defeat always loom large.

When a team continues to build their plans relying too much on defensive strategies, automatically it halts their progress in 5-day matches and this is why Bangladesh’s performances have not been satisfactory in Test cricket.

And it seems that the Bangladeshi think tank are quite satisfied with this sort of defensive approach. They don’t mind surfacing a team with just three bowlers and let one Shakib carry on the burden tirelessly day after day. They completely forget, the greatest and the most dominant teams in Test cricket have been built on penetrative, versatile bowling units.

Yes, it’s a batsman’s world, but what is the value of those high scores if they don’t receive the support of an efficient bowling attack? 

ODI brilliance could hinder development in Tests

Bangladesh’s brilliant form in the limited-overs format, at times, proves to be a big hurdle in developing quality Test match cricketers, especially bowlers. Role models like Taskin or Rubel do not play Test matches but utilize their guile more in a one-day or Twenty20 match and youngsters watching the game decide to follow in their footsteps. The situation gets worse when a group of so-called local intellectuals endorses their thoughts.

The English batting line-up is very strong and they are a highly professional unit. They love to make bowlers sweat and are the masters at putting a price tag on their wicket. The Bangladeshi bowling attack lacks the cutting edge to test the English batting line-up and it will not acquire the same until and unless the Bangladeshi think tank gives Test cricket greater importance and shun their defensive mindset.

The idea of depending too much on the batsmen might backfire for Bangladesh. As Virat Kohli once said, “I certainly believe that a bowler wins you a Test match. Batsmen can hardly get you a Test match from a difficult situation if you are chasing. More often than not, it’s the bowlers who eventually out you in that position when you have to chase a small total. So a bowlers’ role is more important than batsmen in Test matches.”

Note: This article has been published at Sportskeeda on 19/10/2016 Why Bangladesh might struggle against England in the Test series

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

England were smarter and more composed than Bangladesh in the third ODI

Whether the match would proceed or not was the subject of discussion before the start of the third One-day international match between Bangladesh and England in Chittagong. The city experienced heavy rain for a couple of days and thus inclement weather was about to play spoilsport with the series locked at 1-1. There was a reserve day, but England denied to play on that and for which, the hype and excitement of the fans at Chittagong and throughout Bangladesh was about to meet a sad end.

Thankfully, the rain stopped, but the gloomy skies persisted and as soon as the captains of the two teams went out for the toss, they were greeted with loud cheers. There will be a battle between bat and ball and the Bangladesh cricket fans will have a great holiday to relish.

Despite the heavy downpour for the last couple of days, the track at Chittagong didn’t lose its actual nature. The track had bounce and a nice carry. It was one of those tracks which provided assistance for both the batsmen and bowlers. A batsman needs to get on top of the bounce and play the ball late with a straight bat rather than trying something adventurous. And a fielding team needs to stop the leakage of easy singles and twos and make the batsman play forward more rather than getting excited by the bounce of the wicket.

Buttler makes the right call

Jos Buttler read the track right and invited Bangladesh to bat first considering the gloomy skies and bounce of the pitch and he knew, with the progress of time, this track will settle down more and the bounce will be helpful to bat as the English batsmen are well accustomed to such.

Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes’ start was steady but not an ideal one, as because on this track, one needs to utilise the bounce as much as possible to essay a rollicking start. But Tamim and Kayes decided to proceed in a more traditional manner – occupy the crease, see off the new ball and build a solid foundation which was quite an unspectacular idea.

It only helped Buttler to use his cricketing brain smartly. Butler knew he had bored Tamim and Kayes who are stroke makers and at any moment, they would try to come out of the shell and start hitting the ball in the air rather than keeping it on the ground.

Buttler set a fielder at short leg and Ben Stokes delivered a cross-seamed ball at which Kayes flicked the ball without even releasing about his balance and bat position and thus, walked to the pavilion.

But Tamim flexed his arms and along with Shabbir Rahman cracked pugnacious strokes to lift the run rate. The English think tank in the field wanted just that. Whenever Tamim gets going, he doesn’t mix caution with aggression, but keeps on playing his shots.

Butler introduced Adil Rashid and perhaps, he was advised to ball some loose deliveries to set up Tamim. Rashid dished out a loose ball outside off and Tamim failed to adjust his shot and tamely slapped it to cover while trying to play it on the onside.

Rashid then delivered another loose ball to Mahmudullah Riyad – a juicy long hop at which Mahmudullah tried to play it on the offside – a wrong ploy against long hops and thus, was dismissed cheaply. It was a poor shot against a poor delivery, but it was well-planned one as Butler knew, Bangladeshi batsmen love to do something silly against loose deliveries and Rashid’s plan to deliver such balls didn’t go waste.

Shabbir Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim got accustomed to the bounce very well added 54 runs for the fourth wicket in a very short period of time.

England needed to strike gold and Rashid provided them the breakthrough and when he outsmarted Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh innings was stagnated by some smart thinking by the English captain and Adil Rashid.

Since Shakib’s dismissal, Bangladesh added 93 more runs in the last 15 overs. Mushfiqur Rahim rediscovered his touch, but on this track, they were 30 to 40 runs short.

Sharpness on the field helps England

England were very sharp-witted on the field – they set the Bangladeshi batsmen up, dried up the runs in the last 10 to 15 overs and scripted breakthroughs in the crucial stages of the game whenever Bangladesh tried to gain the momentum.

While chasing, England’s batting was all about composure rather than the rush of blood. They cracked boundaries but they concentrated more on maneuvering the strike which never let them feel the pressure of the asking run rate.

Ben Duckett showed why is he rated so highly by the English critics. He applied himself superbly at the crease and his manner of stroke-play indicates, he is well set to become one of the finest in Test cricket. Especially his authority over the sweep shot was brilliant. He notched up 28 runs from ten sweep shots – conventional and reverse – and this helped him to neutralize the Bangladeshi spinners to a great extent.

Even when a partnership was broken, England never got panicked but maintained their composure to steer the ship safely to shore. Even in the end overs, when Bangladesh would have started to deal in boundaries, they didn’t bother to block and rotate the strike more and went for the big shots after two or more singles and couples were taken.

This was nothing but sheer professionalism and smart batting.

The Bangladeshi spinners failed to make an impact as because they thought, this track would turn and looked for turn off the pitch rather than bowling wicket-to-wicket and making the batsmen drive forward. Meanwhile, the fielding was ordinary and failed to stop the leakage of easy singles and twos.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza came back strongly with the ball and tried to make the weather heavy, but England were in no mood to surrender cheaply as they were determined, smart and more composed than the home team.

Note: This article has been published at Sportskeeda on 13/10/2016 England were smarter and more composed than Bangladesh in the third ODI

Thank You

Faisal Caesar