Sangram Online: Bangladesh team could not win a Test against Babar-Shan Masood before going to Pakistan. Nazmul Hossain Shanto’s team won both the Tests of the series after overcoming that regret. This time in front of them is the opponent India, 12 shows that the Tigers have no victory in the Test against them. In such a situation, coach Chandika Hathurusinghe is getting confidence from the Pakistan series. He even referred to the current squad as the best Test team in Bangladesh.
Addressing a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday (September 17), Hathurusinghe said, ‘This (Pakistan series) definitely gave us a lot of confidence before coming here. If you think about the results aside, the way we played the series, the way we handled the situation, the way we fell behind and came back, all those who contributed to all this gave us a lot of confidence for this series.’
This Lankan coach of Bangladesh also said, ‘I think, perhaps, the Test team of this time is the most complete. We brought in a lot of pacers, got some good pace bowlers. We also have experience in the spin department, along with good batting depth. We have two spinners who are specialist batsmen who both have Test centuries. Along with this we have two wicketkeepers who are the main batsmen of the team. All this gives a good balance to our team, as well as confidence.’
Chennai is the venue for Bangladesh’s first Test against India on September 19. Where wickets are usually spin friendly. To the question whether there will be such a wicket in the upcoming match or not, Hathuru replied, ‘It seems like a sporting wicket to me. But the subcontinent’s wicket may actually change from day one. I’m not sure when the turn will start here.’
Note that the Bangladesh-India two-Test series will begin with the Chennai match. The second Test will be held in Kanpur from September 27. Then on October 6, 9 and 12, Bangladesh-India will face each other in a three-match T20 series.