If anything that dominated the talks before second Test between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in Khulna, it must be the visitors’ preparation against the local spinners.
What went almost unnoticed is Bangladesh’s preparation to neutralise their pacers with a lifeless pitch that is unlikely to offer any significant bounce or any sideways movement.
In a must win contest Zimbabwe have little choice but to rely on their pace bowlers, who seemed to be the only ones posing any serious threats for the Bangladeshi batsmen in the series.
Zimbabwe’s dependence on pace bowlers was also evident in the first Test, when, despite a spin friendly wicket, they mostly operated with Tinashe Panyangara, Tendai Chatara and Elton Chigumbura.
The trio claimed 11 wickets in a match that saw three Bangladeshi spinners accounting for 18 wickets to script a three-wicket win for the home side.
‘We are not as blessed as Bangladesh in our spin department,’ admitted skipper Brendan Taylor. ‘We proved to be a good unit in Dhaka with our seam bowlers. Yes, we are aware the pitch is going to be different but we have got what we’ve got and we’ve got to make use of it.’
It remains as a serious doubt if they can be similarly effective in Khulna where, with the SG ball in use, reverse swing, seemed to be the only weapon for the seamers to trouble the batsmen.
Taylor was confident that his bowlers have enough skill of swinging the ball reverse, saying they bowled reverse swing in the much even pitches at home.
‘It’s an abrasive surface and the ball will get scuffed up,’ said Taylor. ‘They have done in Test matches at home where the pitches have been less rough. I have no doubt they can do it here.’
Taylor also backed his pacers to shine with the new ball, something they did in Dhaka to put Bangladesh under pressure in both the innings.
Panyangara claimed a career best 5-59 in the first innings while Chigumbura left Bangladesh trembling in the second innings to take 4-21 that nearly caused an upset.
With the pitch and condition changing in Khulna, Taylor was confident that they can easily adapt with it.
‘There is always going to be pressure. [But] our seam bowlers are good enough to adapt,’ he said.
‘I feel they are good enough to strike with the new ball, I feel they are good enough to reverse the ball.’
The Zimbabwe skipper was rather focusing on improving their batting which had lot of deficiencies in the first Test.
‘We were very sloppy in Dhaka in losing our wickets, so our batters are pretty determined right now,’ said Taylor. ‘We would like to prove to everybody that we are good players of spin.’
-With New Age input
