BAN v AFG | Nobody plays to lose, would be great to start with a win, says Russell Domingo
Bangladesh’s new head coach Russell Domingo hopes his team can start his tenure off with a win in the lone Test against Afghanistan starting at Chittagong on Thursday. However, Domingo has warned his players against complacency as he reckons the Afghan players may spring some surprises.
After more than a decade of coaching experience in his home country, South Africa, Domingo is all set to embark on the journey with Bangladesh with the Afghanistan fixture. Quite naturally, he wants to start off with a win as eases into his role at the helm of the national side.
"Nobody plays to lose. It would be great to start with a win. We have to focus on our process we have to focus hard on being patient and bowling in partnership against Afghanistan. It's my first Test match with Bangladesh, I want to see how the team perform in the first Test match. I am sitting back in the selection (process) and see how things turn out in first Test match," Domingo said, reported Cricbuzz.
Making his comeback after a rest for the Sri Lanka tour is all-rounder Shakib-Al-Hasan, who was Bangladesh’s star man at the recently concluded World Cup in England.
"He has been the leading all-rounder. So the expectations are always high. And more importantly, his expectation is very high. He sets a very high standard. His performances have been fantastic in all formats. The expectation is he can improve and sustain on it," Domingo said.
However, the 45-year-old is well aware of the threat that his first opponents, Afghanistan, will pose, and he warned his troops of the same.
"They will feel conditions here will help them because if they were playing in England, Australia or New Zealand then it might have been tougher for them. They will be desperate to win and they will be very confident of springing a few surprises," he said.
Afghan boasts of a world-famous spin attack, which only piqued more interest during its warm-up match against BCB XI when a certain chinaman showed up trumps. However, Domingo said he wasn’t overly concerned with Zahir Khan, whose fifer in the practice match might get him a shot at a place in playing XI come Friday.
"Their spinners are very threatening. We have seen in shorter format how dangerous they can be. It's definitely a different format but they will definitely be threatening. They have got some match-winners, like Nabi and others. Rashid is a fantastic bowler. We need to make sure that we respect them and also score some against them," Domingo opined.
"I have watched some of his (referring to Zahir) footage. And some of our guys have played with him in Bangladesh Premier League or in other leagues. But at the end of the day, warm-up games are just warm-up games. You can't read too much into it. You can't compare warm-up games and Test matches, as they are totally different," Domingo added.
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