Bangladesh can beat anyone at home as they now have an even deadlier spin combination than before to extract maximum advantage, Zimbabwean coach Stephen Mangongo opined on Tuesday. The Tigers beat Zimbabwe by three wickets within three days as left-arm spinner Taijul Islam grabbed a record 8-39 in the second innings to set up a paltry 101-run target for the batsmen.
Taijul’s feat came after Sakib al Hasan put them in a spin in the first innings to take 6-59 while debutant Jubair Hossain, the first specialist leg-spinner to play for Bangladesh claimed two wickets.
Though Taijul did not look threatening in the first innings he still claimed a vital wicket. The spinners together claimed 18 wickets, which resulted in a win inside three days, the first time Bangladesh doing so in Tests.
‘Spinners made a huge impact in the game. They bowled in very disciplined ways, they spun the ball, they made it difficult for our batsmen and they got the wickets,’ Mangongo told reporters at Mirpur before a training session.
‘The tigers are a very serious team at home,’ said Mangongo. ‘We know that and we are trying our level best. The truth of the matter is that the Tigers at home can beat anyone if they play good cricket and we saw that in the first Test where their bowlers bowled very well and they won.
It’s a deadly combination. It can get wickets against any team in the world,’
Earlier it used to be just Sakib, but now those two other guys [Taijul and Jubair] and they are serious operators,’ he added.
Mangongo said that his charges lacked mental toughness as well as technical ability to handle the spinners in front of so many cheering crowds at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
‘You need to have a very good technique and you need to be mentally strong [to play spinners],’ he said.
‘When you have got very good supporting crowd which is always the case in Bangladesh you have to be mentally strong.
‘Some of the guys have not played in such big crowds and the Bangladesh spinners are good, then there are the close-in fielders, so your mind has to be very strong to be able to execute your skill without being raffled.
‘It was a mixed bag. There was deficiency of technique and there was also lack of mental toughness,’ he said.
-With New Age input
