Occasions have been ample in the past where questions were raised as to whether Bangladesh truly get advantage while playing at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, due to the unpredictable nature of the wickets.
Those discussions have emerged again ahead of the first of three ODIs between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe Sunday.
Tigers ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza however, believes the Bangladesh players are prepared to tackle an unpredictable Mirpur wicket. The veteran right-arm pacer went on to thank the Bangladesh players for developing the mentality of reacting well to whatever wicket the Mirpur Stadium has in store for them.
“Mirpur wicket is unpredictable because it changes behaviour all of a sudden. It keeps low or starts turning without warning. Batsmen have to quickly change their mindset in the middle, and also in the dressing room. Most of the senior players have played here for more than 10 years, so we are now used to the unpredictability. It obviously becomes hard for the opposition. I am quite sure our boys won’t give this as an excuse. They are now used to it. But going into the game (Sunday) we should have a mindset to score at least 250 or 260 and make it tough for them (Zimbabwe),” said Mashrafe to the media in Mirpur Saturday.
“Only when we started to believe in ourselves since 2015 did we have a good record here. In cases when we were mentally weak, like in the Asia Cup final [in 2012], we lost here,” he added.
@BCBtigers' home series against @ZimCricketv will be the start of the former’s road-map to the 2019 @cricketworldcuphttps://t.co/P3G4n2g2H5#BCBTIGERS #BANGLADESHCRICKET #BANGLADESH #CRICKET #BCB #TIGERS #ZIMBABWECRICKET #ZIMBABWE #ZC #ZIMBABWECRICKETTEAM #BANGLADESHCRICKETTEAM
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The team batting first in Mirpur got more favour, given the change in nature of the wicket in the second part of the game, especially under lights.
Bangladesh historically have produced results against Zimbabwe, backed by the spin attack. However, a change in attack in the last three or four years saw the Tigers put more faith on the pacers.
Despite chances of the Mirpur wicket aiding the spinners more, Bangladesh will hold onto their trend of playing at least three pacers, hinted Mashrafe.
With right-arm pacer Rubel Hossain recovering from a flu, chances are seamer all-rounder Saifuddin would make it into the playing XI, and join the pace attack with Mashrafe and left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman.
“We have backed three pacers in most cases, under any conditions and circumstances. We have always given priority to the pace attack and they are doing well. They have under-performed at times but there are also match-winning performances. We will keep on backing them,” said Mashrafe.
“There is help for the spinners on the Mirpur wicket, and we had them (Zimbabwe) all-out backed by our spinners. We have that in our mind but we have kept on backing our pacers, let it be on a flat deck or a seaming one. And we want to continue doing that,” the 35-year old concluded.
