Bangladesh’s first-ever Test win against New Zealand, the World Test Champions, earlier this year gave the team a renewed morale when it comes to red-ball cricket.
In their next Test assignment against South Africa at their home, Mominul Haque’s team were slight favourites heading into the series as the Proteas missed key players in their bowling attack due to IPL commitments.
Also, heading into the Test series by clinching the ODI series 2-1, which was Bangladesh’s first series win in South Africa, gave Bangladesh a delicate psychological edge over the opponents.
However, things took a complete U-turn as Bangladesh ended up losing the Test series 2-0 with the Tiger batters proving to have no answers for the home team’s spinners, thus being bowled out for 53 and 80 runs in the 2nd innings of the respective Tests.
In a recent interview with a local leading daily, ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, who himself played a game in whites after almost a year, opened up regarding the team’s ordinary performance in the Test series after a historic ODI series win under him.
“We are a very settled team in ODIs since we've been doing well for a long time. I've said in the past and I'll say it again that - in Tests, we were still not up to the mark even after the victory in New Zealand, after which the high expectations became problematic.”
Pointing out the actual condition, Tamim said, “But the reality is, we are still the same team that we were before the New Zealand series.”
“See, the second Test [against South Africa] wasn't our best, but if you look at the first Test, we did compete for four days; the first time we did so against South Africa on their home soil. We can continue to talk about the negatives, however, if we keep performing like this, you can expect results in a couple of years,” said Tamim.
Being a subcontinental side, Bangladesh were expected to play spin well. But the spin duo of Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer haunted the Tiger batters throughout the series. What could be the reason behind such faltering?
“I think the way the ball was turning on the wicket in the second Test, batting was extremely difficult. Plus, the fact that we had to bat under lights. We need to identify our errors and prepare ourselves to successfully overcome such situations in future,” Tamim explained.
Drawing focus into ODI cricket, with the 2023 World Cup looming on the horizon, Tamim has high hopes over his side as the team has now started to win series abroad and there is a fitting blend of youth and experience in the side.
“To me, it's one of the biggest achievements in Bangladesh cricket. This series victory will give us the belief that we can win the series away from home. The way we've been playing this format, I don't see a reason to not dream about it [2023 World Cup].”
As a captain, Tamim believes that the Tigers can dream all the way. However, he believes the ODI team has issues with 2 spots which need fixing.
Regarding his T20I career, Tamim mentioned that his decision still stands.
“I have no individual desire. The only dream I have right now is to win a trophy for the country,” the ace opener concluded on his future plans.
