‘We are ready to take the challenge'
Mominul Haque and his troops are ready to face the upcoming challenge against Pakistan, as stated by Bangladesh's Test skipper in the pre-match press conference today ahead of the first of the two-match Test series.
The past couple of months have been a difficult chapter in Bangladesh cricket's history. From the ICC T20 World Cup to the recent T20I series against Pakistan at home, Bangladesh have suffered defeats in eight consecutive T20I matches. However, skipper Mominul believes that the Tigers can bounce back like they did in the past.
"These circumstances are not new in our cricket," Mominul said. "We've been through tough times before and we've bounced back from it," he added as he emphasised on the difference between T20 and Test cricket.
"T20 and Test are very different formats of the game. So I think judging the team with recent T20 performances will not be the right thing to do," Mominul opined.
Even though veteran cricketer Mahmudullah Riyad officially announced his retirement from red-ball cricket on Wednesday, and the likes of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan are missing due to injury, Mominul has backed his side to take the series as a challenge and reckons they are capable of handling it.
"I don't want to say it will be difficult for us, but if we take it as a challenge instead, I think it will be a great opportunity for the youngsters to prove their quality on this stage," the Test skipper added.
Bangladesh team management's approach has been on the receiving end of criticisms for a long time as the process of building a long-term cricketing culture has often been neglected following a burst of initial results. Mominul, however, assured that there will be glimpses of positive changes in this series.
"It's true all of us want to see good results. However, you will see some of our long-term plans being executed in this series," Mominul concluded.
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