Bangladesh guards against complacency ahead of Afghan Test

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan urged his players to guard against complacency in the one-off Test against Afghanistan stating as the visitors have quality in both batting and bowling which could cover up their lack of Test match experience, reports BSS. 

Afghanistan made a good start to Bangladesh tour having dominated the drawn two-day practice match against BCB XI as their spinners tormented the local batsmen all through the innings.

At the same time, Afghan batsmen showed much patience, required to thrive in the longer version format-a thing that made Shakib alert.

“Their A team played superb cricket here and when they played two-day practice match, their openers showed much patience. You have to consider all of those things,” Shakib said here.

“So what we have to do is to do our basic right. If we can do the basic things in right way and keep up the concentration, I think we can do well.”

Another thing what Shakib emphasized on keeping up the momentum, no matter whether they bat first or bowl first.

“In Asia, toss is always vital. If we can win the toss, it will put us in advantageous position but whatever it is, the key thing is to start off it well, whatever we bat or bowl first. We have to tilt the momentum towards us and more important thing is to keep up that momentum afterwards.”

The captain, however, predicted that the batsman would have to face a challenging job as Afghanistan possessed a good bowling attack.

“Batsmen will face a challenging job to perform well,” said Shakib. “Because their fast bowlers are high standard and everyone know how good their spinners are. So, naturally a big challenge is awaiting for our batsman.”

But still he keeps faith on his batsmen as he stated: “But I have full faith on my batsmen. The way we practiced in the last two weeks, we can’t ask more. Everyone gives his best from his position. Now if our hard work is reflected in the original match, we can do well.”

Meanwhile, Shakib said their plan for the Test is simple as they would aim to take 20 wickets and score runs as much as they can.

“If we can’t take 20 wickets, there is no chance of winning the match. So, who will be the bowlers, will try to take 20 wickets and that should be done with conceding as less runs as we can to,” he pointed out.

“And the batsmen’s task is simple-they will try to score runs as much as it is possible. So it’s the plan and I don’t want to think much. That’s why I said we have to do our basic right.”