IND vs BAN | Bangladesh ready to face India's spin and pace challenge, claims Mominul Haque
Bangladesh's newly appointed Test captain Mominul Haque has shared that they are not under pressure and are ready to face both the spin and pace challenge against India. Haque has also acknowledged that Shakib Al Hasan is equivalent of two players and his absence will be felt nevertheless.
Bangladesh kick off their Test Championship campaign against the toughest opposition in the World at the moment, the Indian cricket team, and that too in their own backyard. The visitors will look to replicate their T20 series heroics against the full strength Test squad of India.
Ahead of the first Test match of the series, newly appointed Test skipper of Bangladesh Mominul Haque has stated that although they expect to ruin the perfect start India has had in the Test Championship, the Bangla Tigers are under no pressure whatsoever.
"I think the positive thing [about this Test series] is that it is an opportunity. When you are playing with the number one side of the world who are very strong in all the three departments, if you do well it will create an opportunity for you. Actually we don't have that much pressure or expectation that we have to win. We will try to play our best cricket," Cricbuzz quoted Haque.
The teams seem to have a stark difference in their previous Test endeavours this year. While India is coming off a dominant display over the Proteas, as they whitewashed the visitors 3-0, their neighbours are trying to wave off a humiliating defeat to Afghanistan back at home. Haque while acknowledging the previous outcomes said that he is concentrating on the case at hand.
"I always try to think about present, not about past or future. India is such a team that they can give you a challenge in different ways. You can't say they only challenged South Africa with spin bowling only. Maybe they will challenge us with spin attack. We are ready to face both spin and pace attack challenge from India. Definitely it will be a tough challenge for us. But we are preparing to face it," Mominul said.
If playing India at their home wasn't already tough, the suspension of former skipper Shakib Al Hasan and opener Tamim Iqbal stepping down has worsened the situation for Bangladesh. Talking about the team's preparation skipper that the players well prepared to come off four-day matches while he acknowledged the absence of Shakib similar to that of two players.
"I don't think there is any lack of preparation. If you look into our squad then you will see eight of the players have played quite a few four-day games recently. I have played eight to ten four-day games in last five-six months. Every player was among matches recently so I don't think it will be a big problem."
"Yes, it will be challenging [because of the absence of Shakib and Tamim], but there is no scope of thinking about it too much now. Shakib bhai is equal to two players. So absence of Shakib bhai and Tamim bhai will be like missing three players. We have to move away. I think due to their absence, everyone is more focused as we missing like three key players in playing eleven. In that sense I think everyone will play with extra responsibility," he said.
Mominul shared that his sudden ascension to captaincy has released pressure off him as he also described how the senior players are helping him out to take over the leader's role.
"Since I have received the captaincy duty, I am not feeling the pressure. The way I batted before captaincy, I will bat in the same way after being captain. I always try to think about the positive aspects. There are few positives in captaincy as well as your knowledge about the game will increase or you will be more responsible as a player etc. So think it will help to improve my performance or batting.
"Everyone is supporting me. Both Riyad Bhai and Mushfiq Bhai are helping me, motivating me and guiding me. Everyone is motivated in the team as they are matured players. I think I don't need to explain too much to players as a captain," the 28-year-old concluded.
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