Habibul Bashar: We don’t prepare wickets like this in domestic cricket; our boys find it difficult to adjust

The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium pitch has gained a lot of attention since Bangladesh’s four-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the second Test in Dhaka; Bangladesh’s decision to go on a dry, spin-friendly ground backfired on them as New Zealand won an exciting run-chase to tie the series after losing the opener game in Sylhet by 150 runs.

The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium pitch has gained a lot of attention since Bangladesh’s four-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the second Test in Dhaka. 

Bangladesh’s decision to go on a dry, spin-friendly ground backfired on them as New Zealand won an exciting run-chase to tie the series after losing the opener game in Sylhet by 150 runs. Up to 30 of the 36 wickets that fell in the game went down to spin.

Tim Southee, the captain of New Zealand, described the wicket as one of the worst he had ever experienced in a Test match. 

The member of the national selection panel, Habibul Bashar, addressed the pitch preparation, which was notably biased in favor of the spinners, and said that it wasn’t intentional and that the Mirpur soil’s characteristics had a big impact on how the pitch performed.

“We would obviously want to have a spin-friendly wicket against New Zealand but the only problem is when we try to prepare a spin track in Dhaka, it turns out that way, and probably it has got something to do with the soil. If we had tried to make a similar wicket in Chattogram or Sylhet it wouldn’t have been the same case,”

Bashar told Cricbuzz on Sunday (December 10).

“So I don’t think there is anything intentional regarding the wicket in Dhaka. I don’t think anyone would like to play on this kind of wicket because if you want to have the ideal wicket it is the wicket in Sylhet where there is something for everyone. What I understand is that because of soil when Mirpur wicket is prepared to assist the spinners, it turns out that way.

“I think what people don’t understand is that we highlight (the Dhaka wicket) very much but we didn’t play on similar wickets against Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, or Ireland. It is only when we play against New Zealand, Australia, or South Africa though – we are not playing against them for quite some time – when we play in this kind of wicket and it grabs all the attention,”

he said.

“You just see it’s not long ago when pacers took most of the wickets against Afghanistan and Ireland and against India we had a comparatively sporting wicket while against Sri Lanka we did not play on a similar surface. Our captain said that when we are playing with three pace bowlers no one raises fingers but when we are playing with three spinners there is a lot of talk. When we are playing on this kind of wicket we hog the spotlight but when we are playing on a green top we don’t have a similar kind of noise.”

Speaking about the way the Bangladesh batters struggled to adjust to the turning wicket; Bashar said it was mainly because their domestic cricket is not played on raging turners. 

“We don’t prepare wickets like this in domestic cricket. Our boys find it difficult to adjust because we are not playing domestic cricket on this kind of wicket. Even when we are playing first-class cricket in Mirpur the wicket is not like this (the one prepared for the New Zealand game). It becomes difficult for our batsmen because they don’t play on this kind of wicket.

“Our domestic cricket is played on grass wickets and our batters do well when the ball is coming onto the bat. In the whole National Cricket League (the country’s traditional first-class tournament) only two matches were played on spin tracks because we planned to play on similar wickets against New Zealand. The whole tournament we played with six mm grass though normally we don’t see wickets with more than four mm grass. Earlier it was two mm later we did four mm and now we are playing on six mm grass. So our batsmen are not prepared on this kind of wicket.”

Former national captain Bashar expressed his admiration for the manner Najmul Hossain Shanto guided the team during his first Test as captain. Najmul’s mental toughness will serve him well in the future, according to Bashar, who referred to him as a ‘bold’ captain.

“He is bold. Definitely it will be a too-early call because he just started but he carried himself well on the field if we consider it was his first Test as a captain. It is very important for a captain to give a statement and I think he has done it. During the last couple of days when there were lots of talks regarding the wickets, he was clear about his thoughts and it is very important for a captain. So far I felt he has a strong mentality which is very important for a captain. There are certain on-field decisions that he could have taken differently but he will learn.”

Bangladesh SQUAD (ODI SERIES): Najmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Kumer Das, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Soumya Sarkar, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Vice Captain), Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Hasan Mahmud, Rishad Hossain, Rakibul Hasan

Bangladesh SQUAD (T20i SERIES): Najmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Litton Kumer Das, Rony Talukdar, Tawhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Soumya Sarkar, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (Vice Captain), Shak Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib

ODI Series

17 DEC – 1st ODI, University of Otago Oval, Dunedin (Starts 4 am Bangladesh Time)

20 DEC – 2nd ODI, Saxton Oval, Nelson (Starts 4 am Bangladesh Time)

23 DEC – 3rd ODI, McLean Park, Napier (Starts 4 am Bangladesh Time)

T20i Series

27 DEC – 1st T20i, McLean Park, Napier (Starts 1:10 pm Bangladesh Time)   

29 DEC – 2nd T20i, Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui (Starts 1:10 pm Bangladesh Time)

31 DEC – 3rd T20i, Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui (Starts 6 am Bangladesh Time)