Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque hopes his side will focus in all three departments when they take on hosts Zimbabwe in the one-off Test match at Harare Sports Club, starting from Wednesday.
The left-handed batsman during the virtual conference with the media admitted that Bangladesh will not garner much credit if they win a game against Zimbabwe, but shall receive heavy criticism for a defeat.
Bangladesh till date have played 17 Tests against Zimbabwe, and have won seven and lost as many matches, while three had finished in draw.
The last time Bangladesh toured Zimbabwe, in 2013, the two-match series had finished in a draw with the sides winning one game each.
Mominul said the two-day practice match that they played recently will give the players confidence.
The game earlier this week had finished in a draw but both Bangladesh batters and bowlers had a good outing considering the performance.
“I also think about it [of the criticism when we lose against Zimbabwe]. But when you are playing away against any opponent, you have to ensure pinpoint execution in all three departments – batting, bowling and fielding – you have to keep the focus. Playing as a team is important. Hope we will be able to win this game if we can do this,” said Mominul to the media.
“We had a good practice game. Both the batters and bowlers did well for which we are expecting the Test to be positive for us. Any away match is challenging but preparation-wise I am hopeful that if we get to play five days of good cricket, the result will come in favor of us,” the Bangladesh Test captain added.
Bangladesh are yet to decide the combination of the playing XI owing to injuries, and also due to the fact of being unaware of the wicket in Harare.
The team have overcome injury concern of wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and the right-handed batter is now available for selection having recovered from hairline fracture picked up during the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League Twenty20 last month.
There is however, concern on the availability of prominent opener Tamim Iqbal.
The left-handed batsman is dealing with knee injury that he incurred during the Dhaka League, and the team management will wait till the last minute before deciding whether to play Tamim in the Test.
Chances are for all-rounder Mahmudullah to return to the Test team for Bangladesh.
The right-handed middle-order batsman was included in the Test squad, after a gap of almost 16 months, as back-up to Tamim and Mushfiq.
“Tamim bhai is an important player for us. So we will wait till [Wednesday morning] before coming to a decision. The wait is simply because of the injury. Like I said he is a very important player for me. So we want to wait till the last minute, see his progress with the recovery and then come to a decision," said Mominul.
“We have not been able to see the wicket yet. We can decide on him [Mahmudullah] after we get to know the wicket that we will play on. It becomes difficult to decide on the combination without seeing the wicket. The last time we played here, around eight years ago, the pacers had dominated the game. But in the last two matches both spinners and pacers dominated alike,” Mominul explained.