If Bangladesh found it tough to compete against South Africa in the first Test, then the road is only going to get tougher for them in the second Test. With Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis letting his dissatisfaction known over the uncharacteristic pitch in Potchefstroom that did not assist the pacers, it is more than likely that the pitch for the next game will be pacy and bouncy.
And considering du Plessis’ comments, Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has said that Mushfiqur Rahim & Co. will find the upcoming game more challenging.
“From what I understand, Faf du Plessis (South African skipper) wants more bounce in the wicket,” Mashrafee said on Tuesday (October 3). “Naturally it will be more challenging,” he said.
On a pitch that has almost nothing for the bowlers, Bangladesh had done well in the first innings, scoring 320 in reply to South Africa’s 496 but looked totally out of sorts in the second innings, getting bowled out for a paltry 90 while chasing an improbable 424.
Mashrafe further admitted that bowling in the longest format of the game had been a persistent problem for Bangladesh.
“Bowling in Test cricket had always been a worry for us. In Tests you have to bowl long spells and get the breakthroughs as well. If you see our recent success against England and Australia it is the spinners who dictated terms. So it is impossible to change our bowling in the Test format within a night,” he said.
The former Test pace spearhead also had a word of advice for the players plying their trade in the domestic circuit.
“Those who are playing the domestic league need to bowl long spells and that too for a considerable amount of time,” said Mashrafe. “It is not that because you have bowled well in a couple of matches you are ready for Tests, because it is not an easy place.”
Mushfiqur Rahim looked devastated after the loss as he apologised to the nation but Mashrafe feels all is not lost for the Tigers.
“I think we should give them credit for the way they played in the first four days,” he said.
“Our performance is certainly better than what we did earlier in South Africa. So you can take positives, and to be honest, a lot of teams with much better batting depth than ours struggle in South Africa. In cricket, a bad day can come, but that does not imply all your hard work is washed away,” he added.