Bangladesh will take inspiration from the past as they seek a turnaround in fortune in the second Test against Sri Lanka, which begins today at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. The Tigers have a proud record at this venue and some of their recent successes have come here, including a highly respectable draw against New Zealand in their last series in October.
Though Sri Lanka, who won here by 465 runs in 2008, are a completely different proposition to the spin-fragile Kiwis, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim hopes the X-factor that the ground provides might help his struggling team-mates.
‘I don’t feel the ground makes much of a difference,’ Mushfiq said ahead of the second Test.
‘But an X-factor does work. [Sohag] Gazi would now think that “I took a hat-trick and six wickets here”, so it might play in [his] mind.
‘It is also a lucky ground for me. I average 45+ here, so I want to perform at that level,’ he said.
Mushfiq, who made the first of his two Test centuries here against India in 2010, in fact averages 50.21 at this seaside ground, a rare performance by a Bangladeshi batsman at a particular venue.
A similar performance will be required from not only Mushfiq but from some other batsmen as well if Bangladesh are to avoid the embarrassment that they suffered in the first Test in Dhaka.
Sri Lanka crushed Bangladesh by an innings and 248 runs in the first Test with more than a day to spare to post their second biggest ever win in Test cricket.
The Tigers failed in all three departments – batting, bowling and fielding – and that culminated in the embarrassing defeat in front of their own crowd.
The batsmen played a series of rash shots and were dismissed for poor totals in both innings, and the bowlers conceded 730 runs in more than 187 overs, which produced just six wickets for them.
Their fielders also missed several catching and stumping opportunities, allowing Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene to score a double century and Kaushal Silva and Kithuruwan Vithanage to register their maiden Test centuries.
In light of Bangladesh’s recent improvement in Test cricket, Mushfiq said this was an exceptional failure that any team could suffer at any time.
Before this series, Bangladesh managed to draw three Test matches last year and lost just two, one of which came against an underrated Zimbabwean side who humiliated them by 335 runs in Harare.
The Tigers went on to win the next Test by 143 runs to square the series and return with their heads held high.
It would be overly optimistic to expect the Tigers to repeat the feat against a far superior Sri Lanka side, but Mushfiq said the Tigers were still courageous enough to give it a try.
‘There isn’t much difference [between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka], but the way we played in the last Test, there seems to be a difference,’ he said.
‘To be honest, we haven’t played this badly in the last 18 months. We have good record in Chittagong, so we are confident. It is a big opportunity.
‘If we can play good cricket over five days, that’ll be great. We will try to grab the chances with both hands.’
-With New Age input
