BSS, Chattogram
Buoyed by the prolonged dominance at home condition, Bangladesh is looking forward to piling a host of misery on West Indies when they take on the Caribbean side in the first of two-match Test series today (Wednesday) at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
The hosts oozed with confidence despite the fact that they didn’t play any Test cricket since February 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Following their return to ODI cricket in the pandemic time by creating a bio-bubble, they are now on course of a Test comeback.
And Bangladesh looks desperate to make their return to Test cricket after almost a year a memorable one like the three-match ODI series in which they whitewashed the visitors with ease and extended their winning streak to eight in that format.
Bangladesh simply wants to translate their ODI dominance in the Test format too, despite knowing that the West Indies side is bolstered with more experienced campaigners in their Test squad.
Even though some of the first choice players including Test captain Jason Holder skipped Test series too, their squad in cricket’s elite format at least is not filled with rookie players like the ODI squad.
But the Tigers have the psychological upper-hand still, considering the fact that they whitewashed a full strength West Indies Test side in 2018 at home den.
The only thing that for the time being kept Bangladesh worried that they are going to play Test cricket after a long hiatus.
“It is a challenge to not play a Test match for nearly a year,” Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo said.
“Different type of fitness needed for the bowlers. The batters have to bat for long period of time, so it will be a challenge. But we are pretty confident because we have trained really well. Our preparations have been spot-on. Players have been really keen to get back into Tests. It is a format that we want to improve on, and it is the time when we want to play the sort of cricket we want to play,” he said.
In the last home series against West Indies, Bangladesh’s four-pronged spin attack-consisted with Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan, claimed all 40 available wickets.
Domingo said they will encourage pacers too, keeping in mind that they would have play large number of Test matches in overseas condition this year.
“Looking at the wickets in Chittagong, the pace bowlers don’t seem to be too much of a threat. It is an unfortunate thing. It just seems to be the nature of the wicket. We have to make sure we play to our strengths,” Domingo said.
“We are very committed to getting some fast bowlers through the system. When we go away from home, they will be crucially important for us. But we also can’t be stupid to pick out-and-out pace attacks when you are playing on wickets that don’t offer them anything,” he added.
