Bangladesh’s newly appointed chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain believes that their disappointing loss against Sri Lanka in the two-match Test series is an eye opener for them, as their strengths and weaknesses were exposed on sporting wickets.
Bangladesh opted to play the series on sporting wickets instead of traditional, tailor-made low and slow wickets that earned them success earlier and it backfired heavily, as they were cleanly swept away by the visitors on the back of an inspired performance by their pacers, who grabbed 37 wickets in the two Tests.
“Our performance in Test cricket was disappointing. It is not a necessity that the result had to come our way but we wanted our team to compete more and to perform better,” Ashraf told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday.
“We wanted to play on sporting wickets because we have to play lots of Tests abroad. We wanted to judge our strength and weakness and so we went for this kind of wicket. Probably that is the reason we are disappointed because our lackings were exposed and our team management would certainly work on those areas in the coming days,” he said.
“The way our batsmen got out was not good. They got out before settling down and if they had known where their off-stump is, in that case they wouldn’t have gotten out trying to chase those deliveries. Some were found going for their shots against the first ball they played in the match,” he said.
“They could not bat with a Test temperament,” he said adding that their batsmen were found to be in deep trouble whenever bowlers are targeting them with their angles.
“The bowlers have repeatedly deceived us by creating angles. This is not the first series that this has happened. I think it is a repetition. We should take this seriously. We should mend the holes that were created. Those who are responsible for this must take the necessary steps. And the analyst will put it in the drop-box as to where their weaknesses were,” he said.
Ashraf added that he is well aware that there is lack of preparation for Test cricket compared to the past but added that they have not got much to do in this regard.
“The cricketers pointed out about first-class cricket and along with that, there are also talks about preparation. If you see the calendar you will see that now there is not sufficient time for preparation unlike the past. I think before the Pakistan series there will be recovery time after they arrive from the World Cup. It will also be for the coaches to work on the areas they found out as their weakness and about the discomfort zone and our batters know how to repair that,” he said.
“If a cricketer can play 8-10 first-class matches in a particular season, keeping one-day, T20 and other games aside, it is not that bad because you also have to take workload into consideration,” he added.
