Bangladesh could not stand up to the Lankans in the first Test in Sylhet. Nazmul Hossain Shantor’s team lost by a huge margin of 328 runs.
On the pitch where Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis scored centuries, none other than Muminul Haque’s innings of 87 runs in the second innings could reach fifty.
Despite losing 5 for 57 runs in the first innings and 4 wickets for 64 runs in the second innings, the Lankans scored 280 and 418 runs respectively, Bangladesh’s collection in that game was 188 and 182 respectively.
Although the bowlers were pretty good, the batsmen especially Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Das, Shahadat Hossain Dipu were extremely unsuccessful.
Not so the Lankan bowlers have bowled a lot. Fernando, Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara have only bowled long on good line and length. Some balls swung. But the pitch was not completely unplayable.
Bangladesh’s Khaled Ahmed, debutant Nahid, also had swing at the runner ball. They also broke the Lankan top order in both innings. But Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis played patiently, judged the quality of the ball and scored runs. They try to leave the ball around the offstump as much as possible. Bangladesh batters did not walk that way.
The Bangladeshi batsmen gave up wickets while playing shots without judging the quality of the ball, leaving the ball and not judging the quality of the ball. And that’s the worst.
Assessing the Tigers’ lackluster performance in Sylhet, the acting head coach for the second Test, Nick Pothus, felt that the youthful side needed time.
If so, then Shanta’s party will be able to turn around in Chittagong in just 3-4 days? Pothus thinks he can. “They are hungry, they really want to do well in Tests,” he said. They always want to do well. They are a great group. They are very good. You might see a smile on their face. It is important to keep their mood good. We are definitely not an emotional bunch. The dressing room is also not emotional. The dressing room is very good. Boys control their emotions. The boys want to win the next match no matter what. Boys want to win even in any match.’
ARB/MMR/ASM
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