‘Need to focus on line and length’
Mahmudullah Riyad's connection with New Zealand is a memorable one as the all-rounder has played some sparkling innings against the Kiwis over the years.
Among his three ODI tons, two came against New Zealand, that too in ICC's flagship events. Even in red-ball cricket, the experienced campaigner has been successful, with two of his four Test tons coming in tough New Zealand conditions.
The 35-year-old, boasting great knowledge of the New Zealand conditions and pitches, made some suggestions for the Bangladesh bowlers for their upcoming limited-overs series.
The selectors included seven specialist pacers for the three-match ODI and three-match T20I series, keeping seaming conditions in mind.
However, according to Mahmudullah, the challenge for the bowlers will be in their level of execution. He also emphasised on the importance of the bowlers bowling at the right line and length on New Zealand pitches to ensure they do not leak easy boundaries.
"I feel the biggest challenge for the bowlers is to make sure of their level of execution and it is also important to set their frame of mind. The length is very important (in New Zealand). The boundaries rise if you do not focus on your length," Mahmudullah said through a video message of the Bangladesh Cricket Board yesterday.
"So we will have to ensure that we do not give away easy boundaries and focus on continuously bowling proper line and length," the all-rounder added.
The Bangladesh team travelled to New Zealand with the intention of rewriting history as they have not yet won an international match in 26 attempts across formats against the Kiwis at their backyard.
Mahmudullah did not forget to mention of the tough challenge awaiting them and also reminded the fact that New Zealand have been in superb form in recent times.
"New Zealand are in very good form right now. They have defeated Australia in T20 series. But we should rather focus on our strengths and weaknesses and not on what they have done. That way it will help us with our game and I think if we have an aggressive mindset, we will have some good results," said Mahmudullah.
The Bangladesh team will complete their 14-day mandatory quarantine in a day and given the results of the final Covid-19 tests come negative, they will be free to train together and move freely inside the country.
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