Tigers look to tame their own den
With Chittagong's unique sporting track grabbing the headlines in the first Test, it was not a surprise to see both captains eagerly analysing the pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
Truth be told, the chances of the Dhaka pitch behaving similar to the one in Chittagong is not very high. The wicket at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium witnessed sharp turn from day one but still managed to hold on, save for a few shooters, right till the fifth day. It did not have much in it for the pacers and they had to depend a lot on reverse swing.
The track in Dhaka has traditionally turned less than Chittagong's and the pacers have generally managed to extract more bounce from the wicket. It will not be a surprise if the hosts get reduced home advantage in Dhaka as compared to Chittagong.
However, that was not a factor that Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim seemed too worried about.
"More than the wicket what matters is how you bowl. There's no point if you don't use it well. Yes, the wicket was really helpful in the first Test, if it doesn't produce any extra turn here that does not mean we won't do well. The team that matches the conditions well will end up doing well," said Mushfiqur.
"It will probably be similar to Chittagong but the bounce will be a bit different because of the black soil. It will be a different, clay wicket. Hopefully we will be able to use our home advantage well," he added.
Mushfiqur's statements regarding the wicket yesterday, in a sense, displayed just how much confidence the team has.
Bangladesh's past records suggest that Mirpur is not a happy hunting ground for them as far as Tests are concerned. Of the 14 Tests they have played here, they have won just once and lost 10 times. Bangladesh's batsmen have generally been more vulnerable to pacers in Dhaka than in Chittagong.
In addition, they have a tendency of burning out in the second Test of the series. However, whenever these factors were brought up during the press conference yesterday, Mushfiqur brushed them aside. The hosts had returned from a 15-month hiatus and almost beat England in the first Test and that's something that Mushfiqur repeatedly indicated through his answers.
And that's the kind of attitude which shows that the second Test, against the odds, could very well see something as special as the first. It will not be a surprise to witness a few firsts during the second Test in Mirpur today.
The highest score by a Bangladeshi in Mirpur is 151, scored by Tamim Iqbal in 2010 against India. That is one record many batsmen might want to reach for.
The last time a Bangladeshi scored a century on this ground was back in 2013 when Mominul Haque scored an unbeaten 123 against New Zealand. The batsman, who had scores of 0 and 27 in Chittagong, will hope he can resurrect himself.
At the bowling end, Shakib Al Hasan is the person Bangladesh will be looking to. He has scalped 44 wickets in 14 games in Mirpur. The next best is Zaheer Khan who has 17 in two. Shakib has five five-wicket hauls at this venue and he will certainly want to increase on that number.
On the whole, Bangladesh have produced slightly better numbers in Chittagong, but by the looks of things, the numbers are not going to put the hosts down, for the players seem to have a lot more belief after the first Test.