Bangladesh believe they were not defensive when they took the field on the opening day of the first Test match against Pakistan despite making a slow progress to reach 236-4 at the close in Khulna on Tuesday. The Tigers came into this game with promise of playing attacking cricket but the team that they selected for the game hardly reflected it. They included eight batsmen in the team, picking Shuvagata Hom at the expense of leg-spinner Jubair Hossain, who took nine wickets in the previous Test to help them beat Zimbabwe.
After making 236-4 with a run rate of 2.62, Tigers looked to toiling with the idea of making a plan that can assure them some success in the game.
Pakistani spinners generated enough turn in the wicket on a first day track to suggest Bangladesh might be left ruing leaving out Jubair in the match.
Asked if they were too defensive in their approach, especially in the first session when Bangladesh could score just 60 runs, batsman Mominul Haque refuted the claim.
‘We didn’t set to bat slowly,’ he told reporters. ‘It is quite hard to score in this wicket. It keeps low, comes to the bat late. You can survive in this wicket but scoring runs is difficult.’
Mominul cited the examples of Sakib al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, who looked a pal shadow of their limited-over form that helped Bangladesh winning all four matches so far in the series.
‘Sakib[al Hasan] bhai and Tamim [Iqbal] bhai are attacking in ODIs but even they couldn’t force the pace,’ said Mominul.
Mominul, who scored highest 80 runs for the Tigers, claimed they would have been dismissed early had they taken a different approach in this wicket.
‘We would have lost more wickets had we forced the issue,’ he said.
‘It is better to stay at the wicket, which will be good for the team. One has to work hard to score runs here. I think 300 runs is enough.’
Meanwhile, Pakistan feels that they were back on the game after picking the prized scalp of Mominul in the last over of the day.
‘I think we are even after day one,’ said batsman Azhar Ali. ‘After picking the wicket of him [Mominul] in the last over we are happy. It raised the spirit of the team and would like to go after their batting from early on,’ said Azhar.
The only regret Pakistan had was their inability to hold on their catches that left them begging as they missed two catches and few other half chances on opening day.
‘I think if we could held on to those catches things would have been different but still we feel we held on to our plans,’ he said.
-With New Age input
