‘Pitch was opposite of what we wanted’
Bangladesh Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan is not often enthused about going to press conferences and usually limits his appearances to press meets before and after matches. It was therefore a surprise to see him in the press area after Bangladesh had been dominated by Test rookies Afghanistan on the second day of the ongoing one-off Test in Chattogram yesterday.
The day had ended with the hosts reeling at 194 for eight, 148 behind Afghanistan, who were playing just their third Test while Bangladesh were playing their 115th. If it seemed that Shakib was going to take responsibility for a bad day at the office which made a humbling defeat seem a distinct possibility, that notion was soon dispelled by the captain. Instead of shouldering the blame, Shakib offered excuses and seemed to be doing his best to make sure that what he termed as a flat pitch was the story and not the Tigers' timid play.
"We are all actually very surprised because we did not expect something [the wicket] like this. It is totally opposite to what we expected but that does not mean we are not capable of doing well. There are times when things won't go in your favour or according to the plan. The big teams are able to prove themselves when faced with questions out of the box and they are still able to answer those. We will try to give the answer. But obviously, this was outside our expectations," Shakib said.
Bangladesh's spinners failed to make an impact on the opening day as Afghanistan took charge by posting ending on 271 for five. The visitors went on to add 71 more runs on the second day and Bangladesh faced the music when they went out to bat.
"Maybe we were unable to apply ourselves well, but it was not unplayable. The way Mosaddek and Taijul batted proved that it's possible to plan and stay at the crease. If we had better application, our score would have been more," he said when asked whether the pitch changed drastically from the one Afghanistan had batted on the previous day.
Shakib was asked if he was surprised by the performance of Afghanistan, and his answer revealed just how placid the team thought the pitch was. "We were not surprised when they won the toss and elected to bat on such wicket. We were surprised when we picked five wickets on the first day as we were playing on such a flat pitch after a long time."
With him saying that the pitch had not become unplayable, the 32-year-old pointed to the fact that Afghanistan had wrist-spinners, while Bangladesh had four finger-spinners, as reason for the difference in potency between the two sides.
Although the champion all-rounder was reluctant to reveal what the actual game plan was for the Tigers, he did say that it was their responsibility to step up when things did not go in their favour.
"Actually, I don't want to disclose our plans as we have team meetings with a lot of secrecy and I would never want our plans to be revealed outside. But as I said, even if things do not go in your favour, we have to step up at such times," said Shakib.
However, despite Bangladesh being in deep trouble, Shakib was still hopeful of making a turnaround and even eyeing a win, banking on some extraordinary performance.
"Obviously, it's still possible to win the game as we have witnessed that a team, despite trailing in the first innings, went on to make a comeback. We also hope that something like that happens and for that the two wickets that are left should bat for another session and minimise the deficit. It will be tough to chase against the spinners they have. But I believe that we can still win,'' he added.
Comments