Brave toss decisions will benefit us in the long run, reckons Russell Domingo
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo said that Bangladesh's decision to bat first in conditions that suited the bowlers was a brave decision that will help them in future. A lot of eyebrows were raised when Bangladesh decided to bat first in Indore and Kolkata as the pitches were bowler-friendly.
Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo has backed skipper Mominul Haque's decision to bat first in both Indore and Kolkata despite the pitch and conditions being suitable for bowling first. He believes that batting first and putting runs on the board was the right idea as Bangladesh is looking to compete with India. Although the plan backfired in Indore and again in Kolkata, he believes that such brave decisions will help the team in the long run.
"Bangladesh are not just here to serve balls to India. I know everybody is hoping Bangladesh will bowl first and then they would get 450 plus. We felt that the best way to win this Test match was to try and bat first and we got to get used to doing that against good sides," Domingo told Cricbuzz.
Bangladesh were bundled out for just 106 inside 30 overs when they decided to bat first in the pink-ball Test. Yet, Domingo believes that the decision was the right one and the team has no regrets as far as batting first is concerned.
"It was a good wicket to bat on so we got no qualms on our decision to bat first. With three seamers and a spinner, we were hoping that if we could get a good first innings score batting first... when we started batting, it was bright sunshine on a good wicket. The first five or six overs it looked like the wicket was pretty flat, which may have seemed that it was a good decision to bat first. When we lost a few wickets, it must have looked like a bad decision to bat first. It is just the nature of the game," Domingo stated.
"When you win the toss in India, it doesn't mean we will bowl first because we are scared of getting bowled out. We are trying to make those brave decisions that will benefit us in the long run. There's going to be some hurt and disappointment now, but hopefully, we can continue making those brave decisions and it will ultimately help us. It doesn't mean that since we batted badly, we have to take a bad decision like bowling first," he added.
Bangladesh is missing their key players like Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan who have loads of experience and Domingo believes that it is the lack of experience that has come back to haunt his team. Having said that, Domingo also pointed out the difference of quality between the two sides and thus playing with such high-quality sides will give Bangladesh the experience they need to grow as a Test cricketing nation.
"There's a lack of confidence. There's lack of experience against this type of attack week in, week out. It is a bit of mental, technical and confidence. We are facing some really world-class bowlers and coming short. We have to deal with a whole host of issues at the moment," claimed Domingo.
"There is a big difference between the two sides. If you look at the level of performance, there is a lot of differences at the moment. Whether it is batting or bowling, it's something we have to try to catch up. You look at the record of Virat Kohli who has 26 hundreds, all our batters made total 16 to 17 hundreds. So we are long way behind in terms of Test match cricket. If you look at the numbers of the two batting orders, the numbers and experience of their side, they put us in massive pressure," he concluded.