Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said his team wouldn’t like to get complacent ahead of the 2nd Test which might be the biggest Test in the history of Bangladesh cricket. They are on the verge of creating history by whitewashing Australia 2-0, but their captain has asked his boys to be grounded and face the battle at hands.
Despite the mood in the Bangladesh camp being a jovial one, Rahim knows that complacency might well spoil their party and their dream of winning 2-0 against Australia. Mushfiqur urged his boys to tighten the screws ahead of the 2nd Test stating that no one barring Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal gave their 100% in the previous match in Mirpur.
“It is not true that there is nothing to work on by winning a Test match,” Mushfiqur told reporters at the pre-match press conference on Sunday. “If you give [take] a close look, no one could deliver their hundred percent or ninety percent apart from Shakib and Tamim. Some even walked away giving 50 to 60 percent, so we need to step up and try to fulfil our responsibility,” Rahim said.
Rahim also played a few mind games with the visitors and said the pressure on them is evident given the fact they haven’t named their playing XI for the Chittagong Test until then. The Aussies are known to announce their Playing XI on the eve of a match which remained the same till Dhaka but, as the Chittagong Test has approached Smith has been reluctant in announcing the playing XI for the 2nd Test till then.
“No doubt they will come back hard against us,” the Bangladesh skipper said. “But it is true that they are under tremendous pressure. Normally they announce the playing XI before the game but this time that is not the case, and it only shows the amount of pressure they are carrying,” Mushfiqur added.
However, rain might play a spoilsport at Chittagong, as both, the teams had to train indoors due to persistent rain. The weather forecast for the entire duration of the match is healthy with a few spells of rain and thunderstorm in between. Rahim was hopeful of a full match besides lauding the drainage facility at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
“I think rain would not be a big problem as we have seen in the past that despite rain the ground is ready for playing due to the excellent draining system. I want to win the series by playing because there can be nothing better than that,” he added.
Rahim also confirmed the fact that they will go for a win under any circumstances, as they know very well that pressure is going on the backfoot to Australia will allow them to claw their way back into the series.
“We are going into the match with the mindset of winning it because you cannot achieve anything against them trying to play safe.
“We could have gone with a flat pitch against England to ensure we earn draws but we insisted to play for a win as we have confidence in our ability and there is no point thinking it otherwise now,” he added.
As per reports in Cricbuzz, it is learnt that Bangladesh might be tempted to go with eight batsmen and will go with just a single pacer to accommodate the change.
Shafiul Islam might make way for middle-order batsman Mominul Haque while there is a cloud over the place of Mustafizur Rahman. He might face the axe after his continued unimpressive form which might make way for Taskin Ahmed.