Mushfiqur's moment of truth
TAKE IT EASY: Former Bangladesh Test captain Habibul Bashar (2nd from R), who is now a national selector, enjoys a light moment with Mushfiqur Rahim during practice at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday. Mushfiqur will make his debut as Bangladesh's eighth Test captain in the first Test against the West Indies here today. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das
To start as the eighth Bangladesh Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim can and possibly should take one tenure of his predecessors as inspiration to stamp his personality and the general outlook of the Bangladesh team ahead of the first Test against the West Indies that starts at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium today.
Habibul Bashar's four years at the top saw the Tigers get out of the defeatist mindset, his calming personality playing a major role in the change.
Bashar's tenure began at the end of a prolonged storm that saw the change from Naimur Rahman to Khaled Mashud and Khaled Mahmud, among other major changes in the team's make-up, take place in five years. The Kushtia man found a more than able ally in Dav Whatmore, who wasn't happy with the first man he found in charge here. Mushfiqur too comes after a tempestuous period in Bangladesh cricket when Shakib Al Hasan lost his footing after being given the job for the year. Like Bashar, he has an Australian coach who saw the first captain during his tenure being sacked in a huff though Stuart Law had less to do with Shakib's dismissal.
Bashar's lasting legacy, in fact, remained the four Tests the team drew under him and the one Test that they won. It was the big change that Bangladesh cricket needed at that point and it is the same that Mushfiqur has to enforce now. The 23-year-old must focus on tagging his own fighting qualities on the team, rather than being a team that waits for an individual to do well.
“They have someone like Shivnarine Chanderpaul who has nearly 10,000 runs but our whole team doesn't have that many. We play very few Tests. We don't play well in every session, we just do well one day and then we miss out. We want to play five good days of Test cricket and take it from there,” said Mushfiqur at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.
He was quick to outline the targets set for the individuals, though admitted the mental block that has ailed the Bangladesh team.
“We have targets for batsmen to bat throughout a day, score hundreds and add 100-150 partnerships. Bowlers similarly have targets to take 5 or 10 wickets.
“We are not mentally strong enough to react in close situations. If we could play consistently well, you have the confidence of getting out of such situations,” he said.
Restructuring the middle-order as well as the bowling attack is another challenge in front of Mushfiqur.
“A lot of things have changed but we have won a T20 and an ODI. We should think about what's happening on and off the field and not think about what happened in the first. We have a big challenge ahead of us so we better be prepared.
“Our whole team has this problem [of not playing a regular side]. Compared to other teams, we make more changes as we can't perform consistently.
“Having said that, our young players have huge potential and if they can play to their reputation, they could do better than the seniors who are in and out of the team,” he explained.
In Mushfiqur's favour is obviously his batting form as well as the wicket which would have some worry for the opposition, a point not missed by the new skipper.
“I think they will be in more tension than us [seeing the wicket]. But if the bowlers can't put the ball in the right place, then there's no point in talking about it. We bowled smartly in the last game so the challenge will be to continue that.
“Our confidence level is better than before. Test and ODI have a huge difference. So we are prepared like that as we know what challenges are ahead of us,” he said.
Already some elements of Mushfiqur's persona are being imitated by the team but the Twenty20 win was a first-hand job. To pass on his attitude, a five-day game is the best place to start.
Bangladesh Television will provide live coverage of the match from 9.30am
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