Mominul emphasizes on teamwork to beat Zimbabwe

DHAKA - Knowing that his side would have to face a
stern criticism in case of a defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe, Bangladesh
captain Mominul Haque showed his sheer enthusiasm to beat the Southern
African nation at their own backyard in the one-off Test, beginning tomorrow
(Wednesday) at Harare Sports Club.

    After returning to the Test cricket in 2011 from five years of self
exile, Zimbabwe were never regular in this format and so far played just 31
Tests, contrary to Bangladesh's 55 in the last 10 years.

    Given the experience and exposure, Bangladesh are completely ahead of
Zimbabwe despite playing it in Zimbabwe soil. Therefore Mominul knew a defeat
would give the critics to lash at out them severely.

    "I know there will be huge criticism [in case of a defeat]. But no matter
what the team is...when you will play Test cricket outside from the home, you
have to do well in batting, bowling and fielding and you have to be focused
on the game always," Mominul said here today during a virtual press
conference.

    "At the same time, the teamwork is very important. If the teamwork
remains good, I think we can win the Test."

    In their last tour in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh drew the two-match Test series
by 1-1. Both of the Test matches were held at the Harare Sports Club, which
is the also the venue for the tomorrow's Test match.

    While Bangladesh found the pitch pace-friendly during that time, Ashwell
Prince, the new batting consultant of Bangladesh, said in this season Harare
offers considerable assistance for the spinners.

    Since Prine is South African, a neighbouring country of Zimbabwe, his
experience indeed matters. And if the pitch becomes spin-friendly, Bangladesh
will have the edge.

    Mominul said he is still unaware of what kind of wicket it would be.

    "It is not possible to comment on wicket without seeing it. Last time in
2013 when we visited here, the pitch was pace friendly. But I don't know how
it will behave now," he said.

    Mominul added that their approach and plan will entirely rely on the
condition.

    "Whether we will form a pace-heavy or spin-heavy team, will be relied on
the condition entirely. In our country, we always bolster the team with
spinners. But in away Test, you have to understand the condition first. So
how many batsmen will play will be depended on the condition," he informed,
adding that the presence of Shakib Al Hasan will give them an additional
advantage in forming the perfect team.

    "The advantage of Shakib bhai is that we can get the edge of an extra
bowler and batsman at the same time. So when he is in the team, without any
fear, we can drop a batsman for the sake of a bowler or drop a bowler for the
sake of a batsman."

    Even though Bangladesh lacked longer version match practice because of
playing Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier League (DPL) in T20 format ahead of coming
here, most of their batsmen and bowler hit the form in the two-day warm-up
game against Zimbabwe Select XI, which was bolstered with some of the
national players.

    With both batting and bowling, Bangladesh left the local side in cornered
position with the team's best player Shakib Al Hasan leading from the front.
Ending his patchy batting form, Shakib cracked 56 ball-71 before taking three
wickets with bowling. Other batsmen and the bowlers also did well.

    "I was somewhat scared about our preparation since we came here after
playing T20 cricket. But it was now removed as we have been practicing with
red balls for the last one week and our batsmen and bowlers did considerably
well in the practice game. So yes, I am hope for the best," he concluded.BSS