Young hopefuls evolve in Darwin
“We learned alot of things during the tour.” Wicketkeeper-batsman Liton Das and pace-bowling all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin echoed the same sentiment when talking about their experience during the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) High Performance (HP) team's recently concluded tour of Australia.
“We learned a lot of things. I gathered huge experience, including the craft of swing bowling. When we played the first match we maintained line and length with our stock balls. On the other hand when the ball was not swinging on the other surfaces we tried to bring variation in pace. I tried different things there,” 20-year old all-rounder Saifuddin, who already made international debut playing two T20i matches, told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
The tour was doubly exciting for Liton as not only did he soak in the experience,but also enjoyed the captaincy. “It was a good experience indeed for me. This time I toured not just as a player but there was also the additional responsibility of the captaincy. Captaincy is really a fantastic thing and I tried to enjoy it,” said Liton.
“We went there [Darwin] to learn something and it was basically a conditioning camp. We learned a lot. The wickets were altogether different to ours. In our conditions, the sweating starts after playing only 10 minutes but it was not the case there [Darwin]. On the other hand you have to face strong winds there and sometimes it will be in your favour and sometimes it will be a disadvantage. These were the issues we tried to get accustomed to,” he added.
Both were working hard in the endeavour to earn a national call-up, the ultimate goal for any cricketer. Both admitted that it is in the national team where a cricketer dreams to be but again echoed the sentiment that they were now just concentrating on the job at hand.
“Actually, there is nothing in my mind regarding the national team. I went there with the HP team and tried to learn something,” said Liton.
“Every player has a dream to play for the national team and I am no exception. But at this moment I am not too focused on this matter. As I am now in HP squad, my main aim is to develop myself as much as possible and gain fitness as much as possible. I am working on my weak points,” said Saifuddin.
While it is a big challenge for Liton to get a place in the national side as it hinges on whether Mushfiqur Rahim gives up the additional duty of keeping,Saifuddin has a big opportunity to impress the selectors.
The Bangladesh team think-tank has been desperately looking forward to a quality pace-bowling all-rounder who can contribute significantly with the bat in the late order as well as put in a decent pace bowling performance. The selectors have been showing their confidence inSaifuddin as a future prospect and that's the reason he was carried with the national team and given the national cap in the T20 format.
The all-rounder from Feni had some good performances during the HP tour to Australia where he made a hundred and also bowled well. It was nice to hear from the all-rounder thatwhile those performances gave him confidence, he is still looking to improve his batting.
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