Bangladeshi fans have seen the worst in test cricket. But the comedy that goes on regarding pacers in this format cannot be seconded by anything else.
Pacers bowling only one spell in a day, new ball given to the spinners straight away, having only one pacer in the XI, having no pacer in the XI and whatnot.
The sorry face of our pace attack has been constant since Shahdat Hossain. No pacer has been able to take a 5-wicket haul since Robiul Islam in 2014, which explains how dire the situation is. In between, the likes of Al-Amin, Khaled impressed. But neither could sustain.
The pace trio of Taskin, Shoriful and Rahi really impressed in the Sri Lanka tour this year. But due to the unavailability of Taskin and Shoriful, Bangladesh pace bowling was once again horrible against Pakistan.
Everyone blames our domestic tradition for this. The level and variety of wickets produced in our domestic cricket have always been a matter of controversy. Unfortunately, the matter is not resolved even after 21 years of international test cricket. Not providing sporting or green wickets is still a cult at the domestic level.
But this BCL started off with a different mood. The opening game at Rajshahi, between East Zone and South Zone, saw something different.
The green toppings over the wicket really got the attention of everyone. All were waiting for some pace bowling dominance, the art of swing and reverse swing, balls jumping every now and then, batsmen getting beaten by pace often.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. As it is said, “The first step of getting disappointed is to hope.” This was exactly the case in Rajshahi.
Let’s start with one simple stat. A total of 32 wickets fell over the 4 innings; only 8 of them were picked up by seamers. The rest 24 were shared between spinners. All 10 wickets in the first innings by East Zone were picked up by two spinners, Nasum and Mahedi, sharing 5 each.
Well, wickets are not the only parameter of good bowling. Let’s see some other numbers.
The seamers had an economy of 3.55 whereas, the spinners had an economy of 3.06. If we look deeper, the pacers had an average of 49.625. The spinners, on the other hand, averaged 24.83, half of the pacers.
If we look at the strike rates, the pacers had 83.875, while the spinners enjoyed a strike rate of 48.71. And the fact that the spinners were used for 194.83 overs but the pacers were used for 111.83 overs– in a pitch that was thought to be a pacers heaven– speaks a lot.
Except for the 1st innings of South Zone, spinners bowled more than pacers in every innings.
This particular game showed a sorry face of our pace bowling in a brutal way. Some can argue that our frontline pacers are away in New Zealand with the national team, so are the spinners.
Nayeem is irregular in the national team. Mahedi and Nasum did not make their debut for red-ball cricket. So, this excuse does not stand.
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