Bangladesh assistant coach Nick Pothas said on Thursday that the next home series, which will begin with a one-off Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on June 14, needs to be careful not to focus just on Afghanistan’s spin attack.
Bangladesh assistant coach Nick Pothas said on Thursday that the next home series, which will begin with a one-off Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on June 14, needs to be careful not to focus just on Afghanistan’s spin attack.
Afghanistan, who is hoped to arrive in Bangladesh on June 10, will begin their upcoming tour with a one-off Test and is scheduled to depart for India for a proposed white-ball series. On July 1, Afghanistan will return to Bangladesh to complete the remaining matches of the series, which will include three ODIs and two T20Is running until July 17.
Chattogram will host all of the 50-over matches on July 5, 8, and 11, respectively. Later, both teams will go to Sylhet to play the two T20Is on July 14 and July 16 respectively.
Rashid Khan took 11 wickets, and the other spinners supported him, helping Afghanistan defeat Bangladesh in the one-match Test series in their own home in 2019.
Pothas, who joined Bangladesh recently after being appointed the assistant coach recently, is not ready to lose sleep over past results, but he also urged his players to avoid getting too focused on the touring spinners because doing so could cause them to overlook the threat posed by Afghanistan’s pace unit.
“They have a top spin attack, so the challenge is exciting. The excitement is in solving the problem,”
Pothas told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
“Having said that, you have to play the seam before you get to the spin and we can’t focus all our attention on a spin, because before we know it, we might be five down against seam,”
he said matter-of-factly.
“We will do our analysis and research. Come the time, a Test match is like a game of chess. We have to make sure we have solutions for what they bring. It is exciting,”
he said.
Bangladesh’s batting appears to be a serious problem in the longer version, as evidenced by their poor performance in the ongoing three-match four-day series against West Indies A, even though several Test prospects featured as part of their preparation for the Afghanistan series.
Pothas said that it will take time for him to come to understand the batters and their shortcomings, so he doesn’t expect them to change overnight.
“I have got a magic wand. I will just wave the magic wand. Very quickly we will make batsmen… I am joking,”
said Pothas, on a lighter note.
“These things (correcting batters’ techniques) take time. I cannot come into a new culture and suddenly just start to change things. I have to watch the batsmen for a period. We have to observe how they go about their things,”
he said.
“Every country goes through waves. In your opinion, your guys are not doing as well as you’d like them to do in Tests. That wave will come again. Having seen their ability in the camp and away, there’s no reason why we can’t get better. But it is international cricket. Some teams are at the top of the world at one moment. Some teams are not where they’d like to be. We will ride the wave, but I have to take my time to know the players,”
he said adding that he was impressed with the talent of Towhid Hridoy, who is considered to be a batsman for the future.
“First and foremost, he is a fantastic kid. Unbelievable work ethic and drive to be successful. Along with that huge amount of skill. He has a high ceiling in terms of his skills, but we gave a results-driven game. The support staff’s job is to help him maximize his potential. He is very excited,”
“Hridoy is a phenomenal batsman all around the wicket. He is young to international cricket. The difference between international cricket and local cricket is that bowlers can expose because they are good enough to put the ball in the right place over and over again. Hridoy has the skill and ability to solve all of those problems.
“Not many people have come into international cricket and all of a sudden done what he has done. It is a natural phenomenon. We expect these young cricketers to come in and suddenly be world-beaters just like that. It is not possible. He has a lot of potential and a desire to learn. He has a high work ethic. I am excited about what he can do.”
