Comfort zone diffuses away from home
We didn't have that added punch in the bowling department in the past but, if you noticed, we have a core group of fast bowlers, both in Tests and limited over formats, who are bowling over 140 kmph consistently.
The Tigers' pace unit, which played a vital role behind the historic Test win over New Zealand in Mount Maunganui earlier this year along with the maiden win in South Africa in the first ODI of the ongoing series, is giving confidence to the Bangladesh team management to win matches overseas consistently.
Bangladesh's pace battery, in recent times, showed great promise with the presence of a group of fast bowlers, the likes of Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Ebadot Hossain, who plays the longest format, have started to apply themselves especially away from home.
Much like the pace bowling unit, the habit of playing in seaming and bouncy tracks is also helping the Tigers batters to cope with tough conditions.
Although Bangladesh batters struggled against the extra bounce and pace by the South African seamers in the second ODI, according to the Tigers team director Khaled Mahmud, the culture of playing in seaming conditions at home has started to improve the mindset of the players.
"Look, we have already started to prepare grassy wickets in domestic circuits, which are giving the courage to our players abroad," Mahmud told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.
"There is a positive vibe in the team, where the head coach and the entire team management knows that we have to be mentally tough to overcome the hurdles.
"It is also about the execution on the field and the boys are doing it really well. Although we lost the second ODI where the pitch, if you noticed, provided some extra bounce. But the message is clear to all the players that this is our standard and we should maintain this no matter what happens," he added.
The former Bangladesh captain also pointed out: the current Tigers pace bowling unit provides the strength to put up a fight with the ball, an aspect that had remained missing in the past.
"We didn't have that added punch in the bowling department in the past but, if you noticed, we have a core group of fast bowlers, both in Tests and limited over formats, who are bowling over 140 kmph consistently.
"Ebadot picked up a five-wicket haul that helped us to win in New Zealand in Tests while Taskin, Mustafiz and Shoriful were crucial behind the victory in the first ODI. I think our bowlers were better than the South African bowlers in terms of execution in the first ODI. Now we have that strength to win matches abroad riding on our pacers," Mahmud said.
Member of the selection panel and former captain Habibul Bashar, on the other hand, informed the Tigers want to diversify when it comes to their approach and game plan in different conditions.
"Obviously we are preparing ourselves to cope in different conditions. But the fact is when we play at home, our strength will always remain the same," said Bashar.
"But at the same time when we play abroad, we know what is waiting for us, and since our pace bowling department has come to a shape, we are confident to beat any team. If we can win the ODI series against South Africa it will be a huge boost for our boys to go forward."
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