Bowlers will have to bowl patiently, wait for mistakes: Bangladesh’s Taskin ahead of 1st Test against India

Chattogram [Bangladesh], December 12 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s first Test against India, Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed said that the bowlers will have to bowl patiently and wait for their opponents to make mistakes on what is expected to be flat batting surface at Chattogram.
The first Test between India and Bangladesh will take place in Chattogram from Wednesday.
The pitch curator, Praveen Hinganikar has left a bit of grass on all of centre surfaces two days out from the Test. But as it was evident in the third ODI, batters should be able to enjoy their time at the crease and it will be a long toil for the bowlers. Taskin feels that the only way for his side is to bowl with discipline.
Taskin has been Bangladesh’s leading pacer for the last two years but has had injury issues in recent years. He missed first two ODIs against India due to back injury. He made his return to the side in third ODI, getting figures of 2/89. He was one of the bowlers that Ishan Kishan took to attack during his knock of 210.
At Chattogram, seamers have a high bowling average. Taskin feels that it is up to his side to make themselves “so skillful” so as to remove the surface out of equation.
“It is the same everywhere: top of off [stump]. If we try to force the issue, it would not work in our favour. We will leak runs. They are good players, so we have to get the new ball to swing a bit. Maybe get reverse swing with the old ball. We have to try to break their patience. We have to bowl patiently and wait for their mistakes. It won’t be right to say that we want to blow them away,” ESPNCricinfo quoted Taskin as saying.
“Fast bowlers ideally want to bowl on green tops. Conditions are not in our hands. We have got slow and flat tracks in South Africa and New Zealand. We have to make ourselves so skilful that we can bowl well on all types of wickets. Great bowlers are also getting five-fors on flat tracks. We have to focus on our self-improvement rather than [look at] conditions,” he added.
But Taskin is not a sure starter for the first Test as he is yet to gain full fitness. He admits that he is not completely sure if his workload build-up is up to the standard set by the team’s management.
“The team management is concerned about my workload build-up. I have just returned from an injury, so I am working on increasing workload build-up, fitness and bowling load.
“If I can fulfil the load before this game, they may think of playing me. If not, then I might not play this Test. I might be playing the second Test in that case. I have spoken to them about it. I am following my workload plan,” he said.
Bangladesh is struggling in Tests despite doing well in ODIs. They have only won a single Test out of eight this year. They have lost six matches and one has ended in a draw. They are also yet to beat India in a Test.
Taskin said that Bangladesh will first attempt to take the game to the final day and then go ahead with an aim of a positive finish.
“Chittagong is a batting paradise in Bangladesh. It has never been easy for fast bowlers here. We are improving but we are yet to get favourable wickets. It is usually a batting track,” he said.
“Test cricket is always challenging. We have won Tests by taking it to the fifth day, so here too, we have to take the game into the fifth day,” he added.
It is likely that Bangladesh go into the first Test with two fast bowlers. It is a favoured combination in home conditions. Taskin, Khaled Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain have shown that they can do well in most conditions. Even Taskin believes that the pace unit has undergone massive improvement across all formats, with focus on better work ethic and desire.
“As a pace bowling group, we are hungry for improvement. We are all in it together. Work ethic has improved. This is all we have in our hands. The management is with us, so if our desire remains, we can do better,” he said. (ANI)