To both Mushfiqur Rahim and Ross Taylor there was a common question – if they see any similarity between Pallekele International Stadium and Queenstown Events Park in New Zealand?
The questioner was so obsessed with the so called beauty of Pallekele that he was looking for a certificate from the captains that it is indeed comparable with the picturesque New Zealand ground.
However, neither Taylor nor Mushfiq gave his preferred reply and rather avoided the question as they have more to think about ahead of their crucial first game in the World Twenty20 than the beauty of a ground.
But the journalist with his question at least could shake Mushfiq somewhat with his choice of Queenstown to compare with Pallekele, a stadium which however is still incomplete.
Mushfiq had a terrible memory in Queenstown, a town where his team was dismissed for 93 runs in their only one-day match that they played during their 2007 tour.
New Zealand chased the runs in just six overs, which was one of the quickest run chases in the one-day history. When Bangladesh were trying to take inspiration from their recent home success against New Zealand, any slightest mention of Queenstown can easily remind them how vulnerable they could be against the same side in alien condition.
And this is where Mushfiq has a serious concern ahead of today’s clash against New Zealand in ICC World Twenty20. The condition here is already slightly overcast which gave New Zealand more reasons to smile than Bangladesh, who are heavily depended on spinners.
Mushfiq is also concerned as the nature of the pitch suggested it would favour swing bowlers more than the spinners. In the post-Muralitharan phase, Sri Lanka prefers to prepare pace-friendly pitch so that their batsman can adapt to swinging condition and the newly-built Pallekele has provided them the best options for the experiment.
From his experience in Sri Lanka Premier League, where a few other Bangladeshis also featured, Mushfiq is fully aware of this fact and he seemed prepared for it.
In Bangladesh’s net on Thursday, all the bowlers they had invited, they were pacers which only confirmed Bangladesh’s areas of concern and Mushfiq was candid about it in his statement during the pre-match press conference.
‘Last five or six months Sri Lankan wickets are changing, it’s not slow and low like past, now the pace bowlers get help constantly. It is not the typical wickets that we have found in this region in the past,’ said Mushfiq. ‘So plan was we will have more practice against pace so that we can be confident during the match.’
-With New Age input
