KOLKATA: After a disappointing first Test in Indore, where they crashed to an innings defeat inside three days,
Bangladesh
will be keen to redeem themselves in the maiden pink-ball Test in India, starting at the
Eden Gardens
on Friday.
The determination and resolve was evident in their first practice session at the venue. Having remained indoors after landing in the city around noon on Tuesday, Mominul Haque’s boys sweated it out for three hours at the Eden on Wednesday.
It was a day session (10 am to 1 pm) and the man who grabbed a lot of eyeballs was Mustafizur Rahman, who ran in hard and bowled for over 30 minutes under head coach Russell Domingo’s supervision.
Mustafizur, who has not quite lived upto expectations since exploding into international cricket with back-to-back five-wicket hauls against India in his first two ODIs, was not part of the playing XI in Indore. But if Wednesday’s nets are anything to go by, the left-arm pacer will be very much in the mix when Bangladesh pick the playing XI for the historic match.
Right-arm medium pacer Al-Amin Hossain, too, had a lengthy workout and could also be in contention as Bangladesh seek the right balance to test the strong Indian batting line-up.
“I am not sure about the team selection but the fast bowlers are excited to bowl with the pink ball. That’s a very good thing for Bangladesh. They all have limited experience with the pink ball but the entire team is ready to take up the challenge,” said spin-bowling coach
Daniel Vettori.
A lot has been spoken about the pink ball and its behaviour during the twilight period and Vettori feels that is when teams will try different things tactically.
“Pink ball behaves quite normally in daylight but will do a bit more in the twilight zone. The sun sets early here and we will get to see a different ball game during that hour,” Vettori observed.
With play commencing at 1 pm, bowlers will get very little assistance from the conditions in the first hour or two. The second and final sessions will be way more interesting, according to Vettori.
Vettori believes that seamers will play a big role. “The relaid pitch here has more bounce. It was watered today and is now covered. Because of the pink ball and floodlights, seamers will play a big part in this Test.”
But while the entire focus has been on the pacers, Vettori is of the opinion that spinners could come into play in the first session and a half.
“Spinners haven’t come into play much in pink-ball cricket, but I feel they can play a big role in this format. Both teams played two spinners in Indore and I don’t see them deviate too much from that plan,” Vettori said.
As for their batting, Mushfiqur Rahim was the only one to manage a fifty in Indore. The former captain spent a long time in the nets along with other top-order batsmen Liton Das, Mahmudullah and Imrul Kyes. Liton, Kayes and Mushfiqur also took throwdowns from Vettori.
“I was just trying to prepare the batsmen to handle Ravindra Jadeja’s pace and variations,” Vettori explained.
The batsmen had just one practice session under lights in Indore and are eagerly awaiting Thursday’s evening workout as that will help them gauge how the ball behaves in twilight.