Pressure is privilege, playing against India will give us perspective, remarks Hathurusingha
Bangladesh's head coach Chandika Hathurusingha expressed confidence about his team's abilities ahead of the Test against India in Chennai. The Sri Lankan stated that the two matches would be a litmus test of their current standing, before praising the board for the upsurge in their pace stocks.
Bangladesh are set to take on India in a two-match Test series beginning on September 19 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, followed by an ancounter at Green Park in Kanpur. The Tigers would aim to hand India their first home-series defeat in over a decade but for that they'll need to register a maiden Test win over the Men in Blues, having won 11 and drawn two in their history.
"Pressure is a privilege. I mean it gives us a lot more belief and something to look forward as well. But then we really understand where we stand and our strengths and limitation, we understand that. But we are really encouraged by playing the best team in the world. Like coming to India and playing against India, that's the best challenge you get nowadays in cricket. So playing against the best always gives you the perception of where you stand," Chandika Hathurusingha said in the pre-match press conference.
The Tigers have already shown they are capable of such feats, pulling off something similar against Pakistan in Rawalpindi enroute to a 2-0 whitewash, including a miraculous recovery from 26 for 6 in the second Test.
"It (the win in Pakistan) certainly gives us a lot of confidence coming into this series," Hathurusingha admitted. "Not because of the outcome of the series, it's the way we played that series where we handled certain situations. We were behind the game in both Tests and then how we came back and how different people who contributed at different times. A lot of belief in this series. I think this is probably the most rounded team that's produced from Bangladesh."
The most impressive facet of the series triumph was the performance of Bangladesh's pace battery. In the second innings in Rawalpindi, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana, and Taskin Ahmed combined for all 10 Pakistani wickets -- a first in the Tigers' history.
"It just didn't happen overnight. Previous coaches before me have done a lot of work and even the board invested in programmes at finding fast bowlers. I know the domestic cricket had some rules that you have to keep an amount of grass (for pacers). They changed the ball (in domestic cricket). So all these factors, I think, helped the fast bowlers to enjoy their cricket and have success. And we have a few fast bowlers back home and actually one of our best bowlers is still injured. So, when all of these guys are available, it's really pleasing to see the depth we have in fast bowling," he said.
Bangladesh also hold the rare advantage of having two specialist spinners in their ranks. The last two teams to tour the country, Australia and England, both struggled to strike the right balance between ball and bat, but the presence of Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan means Hathurusingha isn't too worried about the same.
"We have got good fast bowlers, we got a really experienced spin attack. And then in batting, we actually have good batting depth because of two reasons. One is that two of our spinners are genuine batters who have got Test hundreds and then two of our wicketkeepers are our main batters. So the batters in our team for this series are really good and that gives us a lot of confidence that we can be competitive in this series," the Bangladesh head coach said.
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