Mr. Salahuddin and his technical advise to Mominul Haque - Really?

I just read a report saying, Mominul was able to fetch runs due to some technical changes and it was done by a local coach named Salahuddin. Mr. Salahuddin said Mominul's change in technique was about the initial step he took against spinners which limited his options against the fuller deliveries.

He said to crcinfo who in fact took help from BDnews24, “Mominul was always fluent against spin but in recent times, I had seen something wrong with his initial foot movement, He was taking a step while playing the shot. Spinners usually bowl a fuller length so that step was restricting his options. Spin bowlers understood this problem and trapped him. I worked on his initial movement, which he practiced”.

Did Salahuddin actually work on Mominul’s technique or is he just trying to take the credit?

Now, First of all, Salahuddin hinted of a step and if the coaching manuals are correct, the step is nothing but initial trigger movement and like all the great batsmen of the game, Mominul’s initial trigger movement is on the backfoot and it has always been the same and for which, I always said about the beauty of watching his backfoot stroke-play. The batsmen whose initial trigger movement is on the backfoot should never find it tough against a fuller length delivery.

Then, footwork has hardly been Mominul’s problem, but in New Zealand last year, his back lift was not lying in parallel with the wicketkeeper and the bat came down either from third slip or gully which hampered his run scoring abilities. The problems with the back lift still exists, but the due to a flat deck it did not create any problems.

How could Salahuddin fix Mominul’s footwork if he did not have enough problems? Whereas, his main problem is with the back lift.

Strange, no?

Secondly, The Sri Lankan pitched 28% of their deliveries on the good length area with the first new ball while the rest had been either on a shorter length, half-volley or over-pitched. With the second new ball, the percentage improved to 67%, but Mominul cashed on big time with the first new ball.

The Sri Lankan spinners over-pitched more to Mominul (35%) and pitched on a shorter length which was according to his strength and on such a easy track, he scripted shots down the ground more. He was seen coming down the wicket more often not against those whose flight posed a threat but against over-pitched ones.

Now, Sri lankan spinners hardly bowled full to Mominul. There is a difference between over-pitch and fuller length and I hope Mr. Salahuddin understands this.

Mr. Salahuddin’s advise might help Sri Lanka as they did not pitch it full enough to Mominul and thus, how effective Salahuddin’s advise has been, yet to be understood.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar