Lessons from England and India
"If you look around the world, you will see that no one really wins abroad these days." A variation of this quote has become a common excuse pressers after Bangladesh lose Tests abroad, as they did in abject fashion in the two-Test series in the West Indies in July. There is a ring of truth to it as overseas wins have become a rare commodity, but instead of accepting this failure Bangladesh and other Test nations will do well to take a cue from England and India.
It is no coincidence that these two teams are at the top of the Test rankings ladder and also have the most away wins in 2018. When most teams are losing away matches, the ones that win in their oppositions' backyards will separate themselves from the pack.
It is also no coincidence that England and India have the best all-round attacks in the world. The former boast pacers like James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran and a diverse array of spinners like leg-spinner Adil Rashid and left-arm spinners Moeen Ali and Jack Leach -- all of whom were instrumental in a 3-0 series whitewash of Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka this year.
While England have been the best away performers with three wins from six games, India's example (three wins out of 10) is more relevant in terms of a sea change in mindset. They were similar to Bangladesh not too long ago -- the focus was on winning home matches on under-prepared wickets with an army of spinners. Under-prepared pitches and spin-dominated lineups at home led to under-prepared pacers abroad. That changed in the last five years as the focus in domestic cricket shifted to more pacer-friendly pitches.
Followers of cricket in the 1990s will know how significant it is that India now have four bowlers -- Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami -- who can consistently clock 140kph. During the ongoing Test series in Australia, it is debatable whether it is the hosts or the tourists who get the bigger advantage from pace-friendly wickets.
Well-rounded bowling attacks have another consequence that is not often highlighted -- facing the variety and quality in the nets gives batsmen practice for challenges abroad.
That is the lesson Bangladesh can draw from the two outstanding teams of 2018. The sordid spectacle of a team without a pacer was seen in a Test against West Indies in November, and skipper Shakib Al Hasan said pacers could play a lot when they tour New Zealand in 2019. But given their lack of match preparedness and the scarcity of quality pacers the batsmen get to face because of the spin-first policy, that quote about other teams also losing abroad is fated to be on a loop.
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