'Time to focus on my strengths'

Mosaddek Hossain was rated as one of the brightest prospects in Bangladesh cricket even before he made his international debut, and in the intervening two years the batting all-rounder has already seen both sides of the coin.

Since sustaining an eye injury after the ICC Champions Trophy last year, the 22-year-old was unable to regain his rhythm and despite making a comeback to the Test team earlier this year in the first Test against Sri Lanka at home, Mosaddek was subsequently dropped from the squad.

The right-hander who played his last T20I against Sri Lanka in April last year finally earned a recall to the shortest version and he said that after the long wait he was eager to cash in on his return.

"It was not a small break for me as I will wear the coloured jersey for Bangladesh after a year. Obviously, I am feeling good and it's a new opportunity for me. If I think that I will do a lot of things then it won't bring good results for me, but if I focus on my strengths and work accordingly then I can do well," Mosaddek, who struck a fifty on his Test debut against Sri Lanka in Bangladesh's 100th Test in March 2017, told reporters after the training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

There were questions over the youngster's ability to handle pace bowlers but Mosaddek did not agree with that perception.

"So far, I have played 25-26 matches for Bangladesh and among those I have played just three-four games at home. So whatever success I had, all were abroad, mostly in seaming conditions, and the opponents I played against hardly had any spinners. So it is needless to comment on whether I am good at playing pace or spin; time will tell the story," he added.

When asked whether he was hopeful of making a comeback in the side, a confident Mosaddek informed that considering his calibre and if he is able to perform, there was no reason why he should be left out from the side.

Mosaddek also said that playing the role of a finisher in the Dhaka Premier League for Abahani this season and remaining unbeaten in eight of his 10 knocks has helped him gain confidence.

There have been a lot of questions about tackling Afghanistan's spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, both of whom have been in fine form in the ongoing Indian Premier League, and Mosaddek is well aware of the threat and already has a few plans chalked out.

"They [Afghanistan] have two good spinners in the side and they have been very successful. If you want you can say a lot of things about them. But if we premeditate that we are going to attack them and score a lot of runs against them, it will be wrong and if we think of playing defensive cricket against them it will also be wrong. So it's better not to think about them and focus on our own game and keep the belief in our strengths," said Mosaddek.

When asked whether the confidence on the words will replicate on the field or not Mosaddek replied, "It would have been good if cricket is played with words, cricket is played only in the field."