Bangladesh’s spin bowling coach Saqlain Mushtaq held the pitch responsible for the poor show of his charges against New Zealand, who faced very little problem in tackling them in their ICC World Twenty20 opener in Kandy on Friday.
New Zealand took 117 runs in 13 overs against four spinners that Bangladesh used which ultimately proved a decisive factor as they won the game by massive 59 runs.
The result dealt a serious blow to Bangladesh’s hopes of qualifying for the Super Eights as they are now in a must-win situation against tournament’s favourites Pakistan.
It was expected that the spinners would give a better show this time as unlike many other occasions they have now a specilised coach that too of the stature of Saqlain, one of the greatest spinners of all time.
But they failed miserably, which enabled New Zealand batsman Brendan McCullum to set a world record as he smashed 123 off 58 balls with 11 fours and seven sixes.
McCullum was particularly ruthless on the four spinners – Sakib al Hasan, Elias Sunny, Abdur Razzak and Mahmudullah – taking 74 runs in their overs with five of his seven sixes coming from their bowling.
Sakib, who almost single-handedly guided the team a 4-0 series win against the same side, bore the burnt as he conceded 40 runs in four overs, his worst bowling figure in Twenty20 cricket.
‘It was not that bad, but it wasn’t that good either,’ said Saqlain. ‘Pitch wasn’t helpful for the spinners. You see also New Zealand, pacers took their wickets. State of that pitch was 170-plus total.’
Saqlain instead questioned Bangladesh’s strategy as they relied too much on spinners on a pitch that generally help seamers, who were also favoured by the overcast condition.
‘When the pitch is helping the seamers, no-one gives main role to the spinners, even Shane Warne in Test cricket, one-day cricket,’ said Saqlain. ‘If the pitches are helping fast bowlers, it’s Glen McGrath, Gillespie. (For us) Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis they were there.’
‘If the wicket is really flat then they both have to work in a different way. There are three kinds of pitches – one
is true pitch for the pacers, one is a pitch for the spinners, one is flat, but over there you really need to work hard if you are spinners or fast bowlers and only then you get success,’ he said.
‘You have three sorts of scenarios to work with the bowlers. If the pitch is green the spinners will have a problem, but you have to find a way,’ he said.
Bangladesh’s inability to find any way to stop New Zealand’s run flow in a truly sporting Pallekele wicket, however, is not a problem to Saqlain, who believed spinners had really nothing much to do there.
‘I think this is not a problem, you are saying this is a problem. Daniel Vettori – how many wickets he took yesterday? He didn’t take any wicket, so this happened to New Zealander as well,’ said Saqlain.
‘This is not a problem, this is a situation which you have to face,’ said Saqlain, who was philosophical when asked about the game.
‘Sometimes a dot ball is similar to taking a wicket, sometimes containing the run is similar to taking a wicket, sometimes taking the wicket is rewarding, sometimes dot ball is rewarding, sometimes containing the run is rewarding, so you got to understand there are three different things,’ he said.
Saqlain, who joined the Tigers on August 14 on a four-month contract, added that it will take time for the players to absorb the lessons that he gave to them and use them in match situation.
‘Obviously you know, everything takes time, I am not changing them massively. You can’t make a massive
change, obviously you are planning – technically and tactically – and in a game scenario we are working on that also,’ he said.
The former Pakistani spinner, who took 208 wickets in just 49 Tests and 288 wickets in 168 one-day internationals, emphasised on different game plan in Twenty20 cricket.
‘The Twenty20 game is sometimes a rollercoaster, so here the game plan is different, like if you want to catch a mouse you do different technique, if you want to catch a lion you do a different technique, if you want to catch a bird you do different technique. So in T20, every player, every person, day game, night game it’s different,’ he said.
‘Obviously, I am passing all of my experience to the boys, obviously it will take time, they are very talented, very skilful boys, If you have seen the stats they are not far behind, it’s not that they are just bowlers at the turning pitch,’ he said.
-With New Age input
