The pace headache
It was refreshing to watch the Bangladesh batsmen get off on the right foot in the first match of the Idea Cup tri-nation tournament against Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Monday. There had been a lot of negative talk about the Tigers' batting in the recent past but it seemed that they have gained confidence after a successful 2009. There is, however, still a long way to go to match the character of the modern day's limited-overs game where almost no score is deemed safe.
The impressive batting will definitely provide ample self-confidence when they take on India tomorrow and the next time they face the Lankans in the double-header competition.
But at the moment it is not the batting, rather the pace bowling that is the real concern for the team management ahead of the stiff challenge of the just-started year.
There is a highly paid bowling coach---Champaka Ramanayakewith the team but Bangladesh is still not getting the results. There is hardly any evidence of the presence of a specialist bowling coach that could play a role to settle the newcomers. The selectors have been experimenting by bringing in pace bowlers right from their success in the domestic circuit but very few have managed to settle on the big stage, making way for what is essentially now a 'cut and chop' policy.
To be fair, another Mashrafe Bin Mortaza still doesn't appear to be anywhere in the horizon. The absence of the talismanic Mashrafe, who has been out of competitive cricket since July last year after he had suffered knee injury during first Test in the Caribbean, was camouflaged against a depleted West Indies and a weak Zimbabwe. Both those sides struggle considerably with spin bowling a fact that was fully taken advantage of by the Bangladesh slow bowlers.
However, the situation is markedly different in the case of Sri Lanka and India. Both the sub-continental giants have honed their skills playing quality spin bowling, meaning that Bangladesh's spin attack presents them with few dangers.
Which makes the absence of Mashrafe even more acute.
Praises shower in when any new bowler gets the national call, which was no exception when Shafiul Islam was picked for the tough test. But the young man did not look prepared enough for the challenge of an international game. True, the conditions were not ideal for the pace bowler, who was the highest wicket-taker in the recently concluded Premier League, to make a notable impact on his international debut as the dew became a big factor in the latter part of the game.
But it was not all about the conditions, rather, the lack of venom in the pace attack also had a hand in the heavy defeat. Against an in-form Lankan batting line-up, the two inexperienced pace bowlers in Shafiul and Rubel Hossain looked helpless. Shafiul was successful with the short-pitched bowling in the domestic scene as local batters find it hard to play the cut and pull shots with ease, but it was not the case against formidable opponents like Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, Rubel Hossain could not assert much control over his line and length at this kind of surface where it is most required.
Bangladesh would have preferred a three-man pace attack under an ideal scenario, especially considering these conditions, but with the quality of the pacemen and considering the lineup, Bangladesh can ill afford that luxury. The team management may go for a temporary remedy by bringing in left-arm pacer Syed Rasel for Shafiul, but they need to have a deeper look inside the problem for a longer-term solution.
Comments