Mushfiqur lacks imagination
He looks shaky behind the wicket
Syed mohammed pithu, from Hyderabad
While Bangladesh put a sloppy fielding show and bowlers bowled a plenty of short length ball after the first hour of the game, Mushfiqur Rahim looked undecided about his game plan.
Capitalizing the tinge of grass on the pitch, the Bangladesh fast bowlersTaskin Ahmed and Kamrul Islam Rabbi excelled in intriguing fashion in the first hour of the game to leave India cornered but failed to produce the same performance throughout the day.
Taskins pace was diminished as the day wore on while Rabbi was ordinary once the moisture of the pitch was out. It was where the captains power of imagination was felt. He couldnt keep his fast bowlers fresh simply and his strategy to change the bowlers at different phase of the game was questionable.
However it was good thing that he took Taskin off the attack after five overs. Given the pacer is injury-prone, he is never a material of long-spell bowler. Rabbi too is relatively new in this circuit but captain continued with him despite he looked tired. And that he conceded three boundaries in his sixth over was the testament of his tiredness.
Taskin was replaced by Soumya Sarkar who was not a genuine fast bowler. Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay was troubled by Taskin and Rabbi in the first hour but the induction of Sarkar into the attack was a welcome relief for them. Pujara who was more nervous in the morning took the opportunity to the fullest and got him set by hammering a boundary.
Rabbi was out of fuel at the moment and that helped Vijay to settle. However when there were three spinners in the side, Mushfiqur surprisingly didnt go for their service instead of Soumya.
Though Mushfiqur quickly understood his mistake and replaced Soumya by Mehedi Hasan Miraj, the momentum was shifted. Mehedi was accurate and offered control initially but Indian batsmen always had gung-ho approach on spinners because of their likings on them. For an inexperienced bowler like Mehedi it was tough to keep them in the shell. Shakib bowled smartly, bringing up all his experiences but he was used in short spells.
Indian wicket is always helpful for the big turners that Bangladesh is yet to produce. Neither Shakib nor Mehedi is the big turner bowler. There is only one spinner in the side in Taijul Islam who has reputation of having a big turn but he wasnt used until the afternoon session. Instead Mushfiqur continued with Mehedi Hasan Miraj and Shakib Al Hasan in the first session both of whomfailed to turn the ball. And what was confusing that Mushfiqur stuck with the decision of using Mehedi in long spell despite Indian batsmen plundering him at will.
When Taijul was introduced into the attack, both Vijay and Pujara was well set. Mehedi though finally broke the partnership with the wicket of Pujara, it was Taijul who created the pressure actually. Of the seven bowlers whom were used by Mushfiqur on the day, only Taijuls economy rate was under three.
There was another aspect of the game where Mushfiqur lacked imagination. He kept Shakib under used even though he looked like a bowler to take a wicket. There was though one logical reason is that he doesnt want Shakib to be overused because he needs him fresh when Bangladesh will bat. But Taijuls late introduction to the attack is believed to be a huge mistake.
SCOREBOARD
India 1st innings:
K Rahul b Taskin 2
M Vijay b Taijul 108
C Pujara c Mushfiq b Mehedi 83
V Kohli not out 111
A Rahane not out 45
Extras (lb 5, nb 2) 7
Total (3 wickets; 90 overs) 356
To bat: W Saha, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, B Kumar, U Yadav, I Sharma
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-180, 3-234.
BOWLING O M R W
Taskin 16 2 58 1
K Rabbi 17 1 91 0
Soumya 1 0 4 0
Mehedi 20 0 93 1
Shakib 13 3 45 0
Taijul 20 4 50 1
Sabbir 3 0 10 0
