Bangladeshi national cricket team is under scrutiny before upcoming Afghan series, and pace bowling for test cricket seems to take the spot.
As there is no chance of bowling drawn in domestic cricket, Bangladesh national cricket team pacers tried to become test bowlers in gym and practice.
Bangladesh pacers can pour themselves out during all four spells of T20. But in the first, second and third spells of the test, their speed was reduced to 120. In naked eyes, it seems that the problem is just fitness or energy. But national team trainer Mario Villavarayan said, 'This is many reasons for the condition pacers for many reasons.'
Most of the cricketers have been continuously playing for 8 months. They did not work separately on fitness. That's why a five-day fitness camp was organized at the start of the Afghanistan Series and the Tri-Nation T20 series. But the fitness condition of the cricketers did not feel satisfactory. The fitness test of cricketers in Bangladesh is mainly done in beep test method. But Tamim Iqbal ran 2 km for fitness test. Tamim's knee problems because he can’t give a beep test.
Mario has high expectations for pacemakers in the fitness test. However, it is difficult to make the same pace for 15-16 overs a day but in a Test match, even after getting a good score in the fitness test. Mario says the problem is elsewhere, 'bowlers do not play too much ball in domestic cricket. If you are not bowling, no matter how much you work with fitness, it will not work at all.
Pacers bowl for a spelling of 5-6 over in new ball in first class cricket in Bangladesh. Majority wickets are spin-friendly, thus then the spinners show off. The pacers are send to near the boundaryline. After 80 over, the new ball comes in again and the pacers get the ball at the end of the day. So the experience of swinging a reverse ball or hitting a long spell to get the batsman out is not achieved. For the national team, these pacers have to make to bowl for 20 overs a day. Mario said, 'We go everywhere after affirming fitness. Still we crumble while playing test series overseas. Playing three editions by the same cricketers roundly at also caused problems at times. Chances for injury are increased.'
India was a spin-dependent country 3-5 years ago. There was no pacer to win the test on foreign soil. India then covered the entire domestic cricket wicket with green grass. The result of which is now available. New fast bowlers are coming out every year in the IPL. They are getting opportunities in the national team. Bowlers like Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yashpreet Bumrah, could ball at 140 km even at the end of the day.
The pacers in Bangladesh do not have that much opportunity to build themselves up. Since first class cricket does not have the chance for lengthy bowling, the practice for test has to be done in the gym and in the net. For a few days, the national team's skill camp has seen pacers pushing for an hour under the watchful eyes of trainers and bowling coaches.
This is an effort to prepare the pacers for the test by creating as much test environment as possible. But the coaches and trainers guiding the bowlers also understand that it is only a incomplete attempt to try and find a solution.