Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathrusingha believes the pitch at Mirpur for the second Test against New Zealand, which begins today, is unpredictable, but his team now has a diverse skill set to match the conditions and opponents.
Mirpur wickets have frequently delivered something other to what the team management expected, but it has consistently served slow wickets with support for spinners. While turning tracks has not delivered desired results against other subcontinental teams in the past, teams from outside the subcontinent did struggle with spin, particularly on days four and five.
Mirpur’s history, the frequency of matches pertaining to the weariness of the pitch, and the opponents at hand, who come from outside the subcontinent and found going difficult in Sylhet in a 150-run loss, will all condition the wicket. Given the uncertainties surrounding the Mirpur track, the combination from the previous game could also serve to balance the team in Mirpur.
“We chose the combination based on our strengths and the conditions in Sylhet.” You can’t always read Mirpur until you’ve played a few sessions. There’s a lot of movement in this pitch. I don’t believe any other ground is utilised as frequently in world cricket. We have no idea what will happen. “At the moment, we will try not to change much,” Hathurusingha stated at the pre-match press conference yesterday.
The head coach understood the necessity for a blend of skillsets that would pay rewards in Mirpur against a team like New Zealand.
“You will have the combination depending on conditions and oppositions’ limitations, tactically,” he said, adding that the wickets for the recent Afghanistan and Ireland Tests were different, and that because the curator had time to prepare the fresh wickets for Afghanistan, they were able to play three pacers.
The wicket that will be utilised had very little grass prior to the Dhaka Test, and team management may believe that the combination used in the Sylhet Test is the way to go. Thus, Hathurunsingha intimated that speed may not be a priority, despite the fact that the weather had been cloudy the day before.
“Because of the conditions and opposition, we decided to go with three fast bowlers [against Afghanistan].” The truth is that we now have all of these skillsets. “We can use the required skill sets in both the pace and spin departments however we want,” he stated.
He also mentioned that they were trying to avoid complacency during the squad meeting on Monday.
“Strong and experienced leaders such as Mushy [Mushfiqur Rahim] and Mominul [Haque] spoke passionately.” They conversed in Bengali. “I see no tall poppies in the dressing room,” Hathurusingha observed.
New Zealand is on the back foot after the first game and combination, and Tim Southee’s news conference focused on the conditions. Southee stated rather clearly what kind of wicket they expected.
“I believe that when you come to this part of the world, spinners are expected to play a significant role.” And we witnessed that in the first Test match, and we expect the same in the second,” Southee said.
Above all, if Mirpur serves something different again, the Tigers will be interested to see how well their skill set variety works at home, considering that home advantage has frequently been difficult to obtain in their Test history.