The Bangladeshi fightback. Analysing Day 3 of 1st Test against India

[tanvir_nus]

This has bee the tale of late, batsmen gets hit on the head, bowlers give back to the opposition. In the test series against New Zealand we saw Neil Wagner bowling 6 bouncers in a row, hitting Mushfique Shabbir and a lot of our batsmen and then Kamrul came back and rocked his helmet hard, or Imrul injuring his thigh and still coming back to bat in the last innings to hold the fort in one end, eventhough he couldn't even walk properly. Today, we saw a fightback in the mold of a tiger, something we are doing more regularly in test cricket. Something we did in Chittagong and in Mirpur against New Zealand, so the signs are there for an improving team.

However, we still have committed some grave mistakes. Shabbir's wicket is a prime example, there is nothing wrong with Shabbir. Along with Soumya, Shabbir is probably one of the batsman from Bangladesh I truly enjoy watching, however he could have had a better shot selection. Jadeja around wicket was turning the ball away from him, and yet he played a sweep. He should have never attempted sweep against an SLA on a slow, Indian wicket. Shakib's wicket is another example, Ashwin adjusted his line and started bowling to his leg, not to take his wicket but frustrate him and induce a false stroke. Shakib did exactly that. Falling into trap is almost becoming a habbit. How many times does Tamim have to run himself or his partner out to let everyone know that this is a major problem in his innings?

Flashes of brilliance mixed with break in concentration costing us heavily time and time again. This is a flat deck, if we applied ourselves we should have been at 360-380 at the day's end with 6/7 wickets in hand. If your top order fails to get centuries, you are always fighting hard to save the match, the top 6 is very weak at the moment. With players like Mahmudullah out of form in probably the most important spot at number 4, and he has continued to fail. I vouched for this guy, fought with everyone here and yet he can't maintain an average above 30. If you look more closely from number 1-6 we got players of scoring very quickly and yet we lack someone with a good temperment who is going to keep one end locked, no matter what the opposition throws at him will not lose or gift his wicket. Mominul is ok, but Tamim, Soumya, Mahmudullah, Shakib are all playing irresponsibly and gifting their wickets time and time again. This could be due to them not playing first class or test cricket that much but if that is so, then we need to pick a team that only plays first class and is only a regular in test cricket and not T20 or ODI team.

Today commentators spoke in length of the youth of Bangladesh making statements and contributing in Bangladeshs wins. Soumya, Mustafizur, Miraz all have come in and won important series for Bangladesh, yet we don't see performances from seniors when we need them most. We need to start drafting in young blood who are hungrier and better capable of dominating in world cricket.

Miraz's batting today was the most pleasant thing I have watched for a long time. He not only held one end with Mushy but he actually played better than Mushfique in the last session, he was the better batsman. He had a solid defence, both forward and back and his fluent drives were a treat to the eyes. This guy is going to a long way.
Last but not least, going back to the fightback, I have to say this. Mushfique got hit on the hand as you all saw, probably on his fractured fingure, he took it and when Ishant Sharma bowled a bouncer next ball he pulled it for a four. I tell you, I stood up from my seat and applauded that shot, best thing I watched for a long time. This is the fightback we are seeing off late, this is heart warming, this will take our cricket a long way. It's the small things guys.

Anyways, to wrap it up, we need to bat till lunch tomorrow. Pitch is still very very good for batting, with only the odd balls staying low. There is little to none spin available, the only worry will be Umesh's reverse swing. But with India batting again almost guaranteed, we should take time and kill time. Do the same thing as the last session, keep getting near 400. First target should be 400 and bat till lunch. If we do that, and India bats for a 120-150 score or a bit more, we will be set a target around 400-450 for one and a half day. All we need to do from now onwards is dig in and dig in hard. Build a trench and just don't lose wicket. If you are set, just continue batting. This pitch is a batting heaven, bowlers can't get your wickets if you don't gift them. Play for your country.

[simon]

good fightback but the problem is often our fightbacks are 5th or 6th wicket partnership, to be a good team we need our top 3 or 4 to fight more so that the middle lower order can put us on the driving seat.
We all know that tomorrow if a wicket falls early then this fightback won't matter much.

[al Furqaan]

Shakib should not bat at 5. 6 or ideally 7 suits his "attacking role". Im not going to criticize a guy who averages 41 with the bat in a dual discipline role.

Riyad needs get booted. Period.

Bring in a WK, move Mushy to 3 and Mominul to 4. Sabbir can be promoted to 5 (swap with Shak). WK (Nurul > Litton) bats at 6. Mosaddek and Nasir should be in contention as well and kept just for their fielding ability.

[Fazal]

No pressure but ... All these fightback will be fruitless until these two can fight couple of more hours in the 4th day.

Break down into four 30-mins sessions....survive one (quarter) at a time....