Day 1 report:
It was a poor comeback for Bangladesh after a 14 month break from the toughest format of cricket. Having won the toss, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan sent Zimbabwe to bat. Good decision though it was, it completely backfired on Bangladesh as day progressed. Shakib relied on an inexperienced seam attack to give him the edge. The pacers early on failed to utilize the new ball and the favourable surface. The dropped catch and a missed run out only added insult to injury. Their countless poor deliveries allowed Zimbabwean openers to get off to a solid start. Even the 2 wickets were more of a Batsman's fault rather than bowlers feat. To add more, Shakib's captaincy did not make any sense to anyone but himself. It is difficult to decide which decisions were worst. Him taking of Robiul, bringing spin from both sides on a seam friendly wicket, not bringing spin at second session early enough, defensive fielding, all these were questionable where Shakib does not have any answers for. For Zimbabwe, it is the beyond perfect return into test. Even if they lose now, they have managed to made the impression that their players have the skills to play test cricket. So far Bangladesh is short on that.
If Bangladesh wants to win this, it’s still not late at all! 264 is not a huge total even with only 2 down. This is 5 days game and 4 more days to be played. If Bangladesh can get out Zimbabwe in first 2 sessions under a score of 400, they can still come back with strong batting and then things will even out for the last innings for each time. Time will not be a factor as our batting line up is fairly aggressive with the bat and this 264 could be achieved in 2 sessions if Tamim gets his big guns going. However, the target should not be to win at this point. Bangladesh is also under the microscope and they also need to prove their temperament to play test cricket. If the batsmen can bat 120+ overs but the game ends up in a draw, it won’t be a bad outcome. It is possible for the critic to sympathize with the poor bowling attack given the fact that both top pacers Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain is missing. Another experienced bowler Syed Rasel is also missing. However, it would be nothing short of a sin if Bangladesh failed to outscore Zimbabwe in terms of batting. Armed with Tamim, Imrul, Nafees, Shakib, Riyad, Ashraful, Mushfiq, their batting lineup has more skills, experience and depth than Zimbabwe batting attack. They will have to avoid a collapse at any rate and build a good total. The surface would be excellent for batting for next 2 days so it is only fair to expect a great batting performance in contrast to the practice match.
To the fans that gave up hope,
Recall the first ever test match by Bangladesh. Having scored 400 in the first innings, they still lost the match by a big margin. So Anything is possible!
It was a poor comeback for Bangladesh after a 14 month break from the toughest format of cricket. Having won the toss, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan sent Zimbabwe to bat. Good decision though it was, it completely backfired on Bangladesh as day progressed. Shakib relied on an inexperienced seam attack to give him the edge. The pacers early on failed to utilize the new ball and the favourable surface. The dropped catch and a missed run out only added insult to injury. Their countless poor deliveries allowed Zimbabwean openers to get off to a solid start. Even the 2 wickets were more of a Batsman's fault rather than bowlers feat. To add more, Shakib's captaincy did not make any sense to anyone but himself. It is difficult to decide which decisions were worst. Him taking of Robiul, bringing spin from both sides on a seam friendly wicket, not bringing spin at second session early enough, defensive fielding, all these were questionable where Shakib does not have any answers for. For Zimbabwe, it is the beyond perfect return into test. Even if they lose now, they have managed to made the impression that their players have the skills to play test cricket. So far Bangladesh is short on that.
If Bangladesh wants to win this, it’s still not late at all! 264 is not a huge total even with only 2 down. This is 5 days game and 4 more days to be played. If Bangladesh can get out Zimbabwe in first 2 sessions under a score of 400, they can still come back with strong batting and then things will even out for the last innings for each time. Time will not be a factor as our batting line up is fairly aggressive with the bat and this 264 could be achieved in 2 sessions if Tamim gets his big guns going. However, the target should not be to win at this point. Bangladesh is also under the microscope and they also need to prove their temperament to play test cricket. If the batsmen can bat 120+ overs but the game ends up in a draw, it won’t be a bad outcome. It is possible for the critic to sympathize with the poor bowling attack given the fact that both top pacers Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain is missing. Another experienced bowler Syed Rasel is also missing. However, it would be nothing short of a sin if Bangladesh failed to outscore Zimbabwe in terms of batting. Armed with Tamim, Imrul, Nafees, Shakib, Riyad, Ashraful, Mushfiq, their batting lineup has more skills, experience and depth than Zimbabwe batting attack. They will have to avoid a collapse at any rate and build a good total. The surface would be excellent for batting for next 2 days so it is only fair to expect a great batting performance in contrast to the practice match.
To the fans that gave up hope,
Recall the first ever test match by Bangladesh. Having scored 400 in the first innings, they still lost the match by a big margin. So Anything is possible!
