It’s always fun to watch cricketers compete! That’s what everyone wants to see. But the Bangladeshi batsmen weren’t doing well at all on the first day of the Sylhet Test. Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim seemed to be trying to see who could take their team down further. Because of this, the team scored only 191 runs, and it wasn’t very pretty to watch.
At the end of the day’s play, the opposing team’s bowling coach Charles Langevelt said that the reason for this state of the home batting could be a change in mentality. However, Bangladesh‘s senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin did not give any specific explanation. He highlighted the overall reality of the country’s cricket.
Before the match, Bangladesh captain Nazmul Hossain and head coach Phil Simmons had given the message to play on a sporting wicket. The wicket was made as they wanted. Later, the luck of the toss was on Shanto’s side. He also chose to bat first as he liked. But after coming out to bat, nothing else went as expected for Bangladesh.
Shanto and Mominul remained as a ray of hope at the end of the first session. After lunch, they collapsed. They fell into a state of fear of being folded after losing 5 wickets for just 70 runs. Later, despite Zakir Ali’s fight, the team’s score did not exceed 200.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers have some credit. However, more responsibility lies with the batsmen’s one-on-one inept shots. Shant was caught at point while playing a delivery that bounced like a cut shot. Mominul and Mushfiqur also took wickets with bad shots.
Langeveldt is naturally happy with the performance of his team’s bowlers. The former South African pacer, who has worked in the Bangladesh team for a few months, blames all the unexplained dismissals on mental problems.
“Batsmen can have this. I call it ‘mental error’. It can happen in any batting lineup. It’s not that (Shant) played a very bad shot. Mujarabani delivered a cross seam delivery, which bounced extra. He scored a lot of runs from this spot. So this can happen sometimes.”
Playing at home, knowing the wicket conditions perfectly, the result of the toss also came in his favor – yet a terrible batting failure! Bangladesh, who had won the toss and batted first, had not been able to score 200 in the previous three matches. But even against a relatively weak opponent and a harmless bowling attack, disappointing batting naturally raises many questions.
Salahuddin could have given the best explanation on this issue from his experience of watching these cricketers for a long time. He did not walk that path. However, the senior assistant coach of the national team spoke about the technical mistakes of Shant and Mominul.
“Technically, we made some mistakes. Suddenly we played bad shots. Whenever we were on the way to turn around, a set batsman got out. It was all a mental matter. I think their routine or process may not have been good. They did not have the process of how to play each ball.”
“Here we have to work quickly. We have to do our routine work before playing every ball. In other formats you only get one chance. Test cricket gives you a second chance. It is much more important to do well there.
The failure of the batsmen to read the situation was more evident than the technical or mental problems. Shant was dismissed suddenly while building a partnership for the third wicket. Later, Mushfiqur also played a bad shot and made his way to the dressing room.
Mominul was responsible for pulling the innings after losing wickets quickly. But he chose to slug it out. Which was not necessary at that time. The experienced batsman, who scored 56 runs, gave away wickets in an unnecessary attempt at a big shot.
Salauddin accepted the failure to meet the demands of the situation behind these outings.
“Everyone knows the answer to the lack of match awareness. We have to figure out how we can overcome this. They should fix the match awareness soon. I won’t say no. You have to do it soon. You can make mistakes. But don’t repeat the mistakes. That would be even more wrong.
This lack of ‘match awareness’ has been discussed for years. Where is the improvement? Salahuddin spread the boundaries of the problem. Dini highlighted the overall reality of the country’s cricket. The country’s experienced coach said that in order to get results in the national team, difficult challenges must be faced in domestic cricket or at other levels.
A country’s cricket does not depend on just a few players; it depends on the entire cricket system and the challenges it faces. To meet these challenges, many games have to be played, be it with the ‘A’ team or in high-performance training. Players have to face these challenges and gain experience.
The senior assistant coach highlighted the importance of helping all cricketers grow and improve. He pointed out that players come from the Premier League, where the pitch (playing field) is the same, but the game at the Test level is different. The success of the cricket system depends on how many challenges the players face and how they develop over time.
Our batsmen have not performed well in the last six Tests, so we need to find new players. However, new players also need time to adapt and improve. We will continue to give them opportunities, but we have very few resources to work with. If we do not acknowledge this, we will not be able to progress. It is really important that we find ways to improve and overcome these challenges.
For example, Shanta played a shorter version of cricket called one-day cricket, a longer format, before joining the Test team. A week after he was ready, he had to move on to a different type of game called red-ball cricket. The team did not mention any problems with the preparation, and Saladin, another player, did not complain.
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