He thinks Bangladesh should adopt
different strategy against Proteas
Fielding eight batsmen doesn�t work: Mushfiq
Sports Reporter
Bangladeshs strategy to employ a batsmen-heavy side, sacrificing one bowlers spot backfired after they were forced to follow-on in the rain-interrupted one-off Test against India. The hosts however grinded out a draw but the outcome of the match left them in embarrassing situation and gave India a psychological edge ahead of the three-match ODI series.
The Indian bowlers bowled well, specially the off-spinners duo Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin utilised their experience to good effect, to which the Bangladeshi batsmen found no answer. Once the first session of the fifth day was washed out, a draw was inevitable and for Bangladesh, it was the match to have some match practice by batting patiently. Patience was the key to deal with such a proactive bowling line up but the batsmen instead tried to charge them more often than not. Ashwin and Harbhajan read the batsmens mind well and bowled accordingly to create a pressure.
We had the ability to deal with them but we should apply ourselves better than what we did. Somehow our batsmens couldnt carry the start. Our approach was good, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim defended after the match.
Kayes played a good knock and Litton Das was compact in his debut match. Thats a good sign. Our initial target was to avoid the follow-on but we couldnt do that. Credit should go to their bowlers as well. We knew in this fifth day pitch, it would be tough for us to handle Ashwin and Harbhajan.
Mushfiqur said that skill-wise the opponents were much ahead but he had no point to defend the eight batsmens combination. Specially for the sake of getting the off-spin of Shuvagata Hom, the Bangladesh fielded just one pacer but with no avail.
He (Shuvagata) took eight or nine wickets in the BCL which encouraged the team management to go with his off-spin option.
But he admitted that they would have to go against South Africa with different strategy. Those who could not well, shouldnt be in the team. The team management had already sent this message to all. However what I think after this Test that we have to go with new plan against South Africa.
The Bangladeshi batsmen as usually were impatient which is believed to cause their downfall in the first innings. Mushfiqur said, Its not that they didnt score by playing such way. But we should be careful. The off-spinners were bowling very well but we couldnt deal with them in proper way.
The Bangladesh Test captain rather rued for the bad bowling which gave mighty India an opportunity to bat them out of the game.
The rate at which they scored was frustrating for us. If a team scored 350 or 400 runs in just one day of the Tests, it is very difficult to get back to the game. Our bowling should be improved more. I think despite being follow-on in this match, we have improved much in batting. Its now time to improve in bowling.
He also rued that they could have judged their batting well had the rain not interrupted the game. Mushfiqur however said that his finger injury would be healed properly ahead of the ODI series and that he would keep the wicket.
SCOREBOARD
India 1st innings: 462-6 dec
Bangladesh 1st innings (overnight 111-3):
Tamim st Saha b Ashwin 19
I Kayes st Saha b Harbhajan 72
Mominul c Yadav b Harbhajan 30
Mushfiqur c R Sharma b Ashwin 2
Shakib c Saha b Ashwin 9
Soumya b Aaron 37
Litton c R Sharma b Ashwin 44
Shuvagata c R Sharma b Ashwin 9
Taijul Islam not out 16
M Shahid c Dhawan b Harbhajan 6
Jubair run out 0
Extras (lb9, nb3) 12
Total: (all out; 65.5 overs) 256
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-108, 3-110, 4-121, 5-172, 6-176, 7-219, 8-232, 9-246, 10-256.
BOWLING O M R W
I Sharma 7 0 24 0
R Ashwin 25 6 87 5
U Yadav 7 0 45 0
V Aaron 9 0 27 1
Harbhajan 17.5 2 64 3
Bangladesh 2nd innings:
Tamim not out 16
I Kayes not out 7
Extras: 0
Total: (for no loss, 15 overs) 23
BOWLING O M R W
U Yadav 2 1 4 0
R Ashwin 6 2 8 0
Harbhajan 5 2 11 0
M Vijay 1 1 0 0
S Dhawan 1 1 0 0
Result: Match drawn
