Bangladesh Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said on Wednesday that they were confident enough to achieve another miraculous success by beating South Africa in the forthcoming two-Test series, starting today.
The Tigers have never registered a single win against the home side in a Test match both home and away and they suffered humiliating innings defeats in all four Tests played in South Africa in 2002 and 2008.
Irrespective of their poor history, Mushfiq said they can turn the form book upside down just like they did it against teams like England and Australia on home soil.
‘Beating South Africa will be difficult but it is not impossible I think,’ Mushfiq told reporters in his a pre-match press conference at Potchefstroom.
‘If everyone tries hard and soul and luck favour us, we can get a good result from the Test series.
‘I feel that if we can play good cricket, any of the big opponents can face defeat by us. We defeated England and Australia in our home conditions. No one thought it could happen,’ he added.
Despite their recent record Mushfiq, however, did not hesitate to acknowledge that South Africa would start the series as favourites because of their consistency in recent series.
‘South Africa have been playing as number one Test team for the last 8 to 10 years. If you see you would probably notice that they are a very consistent side they are definitely favourites in the series.
‘We are also playing well in Test cricket and our main challenge is the condition in here and if the batsmen can continue their good run, as well as the bowlers, keep taking wickets, I think there will be a good result for us,’ he added.
Mushfiq claimed that the result of the Test series would hinge on the performance of pacers as they would be playing in pace-friendly surfaces.
All they need is to bowl in the right areas and control their line and length to get the best possible result from the Test series, insisted Mushfiq.
Bangladeshi seamers had a very tough time in the recent series and having a trained for nearly 10 days in such bouncy surfaces, Mushfiq believed it would be the best opportunity for them to hit the form.
‘When you are playing in abroad, you can’t think that our spinners will play the attacking role. The pace bowlers will have to play a vital role here. Pacers play key roles in those teams who are doing well in overseas.
‘I think this is obviously a great opportunity. Our pacers could not perform as up to the level of our expectations in the last few Test matches we played in overseas in this year.
‘But I am hopeful that we have five pace bowlers with us and best possible three of them will play so they know it very well that if they can’t perform there is replacements for them in here. So they have the same sense and we are happy with our practices for the last 10 days.
‘We have to play session by session and if our pacers can bowl in the right areas at least and pressurise the opponents with line and length then we can have a very good Test match,’ he added.
-With New Age input
