Clicky
Sports, Cricket

Mominul confident ahead of SA Tests


Published : 26 Mar 2022 08:24 PM

Bangladesh Test skipper Mominul Haque has urged his teammates to not rest on their laurels as they prepare to take on South Africa in the two-match Test series, beginning March 31 at Durban.

Bangladesh shifted their focus on red-ball cricket following their maiden ODI series win in South Africa, and Mominul & Co. can take confidence from the fact they have shown their potential abroad by earning their maiden Test win in New Zealand earlier this year.

“We cannot think about the past like our win at Mount Maunganui or Zimbabwe and need to be focused on from day one to make sure that we can dominate for five days.” Mominul told reporters on Friday. “I am confident of winning and as a captain all I want is a win.

“We have had to struggle for two to three years in Test cricket. We are a good one-day team but to do well in Test we need to give and put in a lot of hard work going forward to do well in Test.”

Mominul said the team’s success in ODIs will also inspire them to do well in Tests.

“Enjoyed Tamim bhai, Shakib bhai, Liton’s batting and Taskin’s bowling during the last couple of days (in the ODIs against South Africa) and certain their performance will give confidence to the Test team. Whenever someone does well in one format he carries the confidence in the other format. I agree that the format is different and the conditions might be different too but at the end of the day that confidence and inspiration helps,” he said.

Bangladesh’s Test record in South Africa is quite embarrassing as they have played six Tests so far while losing five out of them by innings margin and in the other game they earned a 331-run defeat. 

“Everyone is aware that we have a good pace attack and they pace bowlers need to take the challenge. To reach this far we have taken a long time and they will be more experienced through playing games and at that point it will be easy for them to perform,” he said.

Mominul added that he is now accustomed to playing Test without their leading star Shakib al Hasan as he missed quite a number of red-ball matches in recent past. BCB is yet to rule him out as they are expecting him to be available in the second Test if he's able to return.

“Most of the time he (Shakib) is not available. We feel lucky when he is.Bangladesh will be hoping that Mushfiqur Rahim gets fit in time before the first Test as there is doubt over his participation as he sustained shoulder injury while celebrating in the third one-day game at Centurion. However, Mominul added that he is expecting the squad tobe bolstered by the presence of Tamim Iqbal, who last played a Test in April 2021.

“In New Zealand neither Tamim bhai nor Shakib bhai was there and only Mushfiq bhai was there. We might not get a couple of them (seniors) but I always want to remain positive. Now there is Tamim bhai and his role is very important in our team. Whenever Tamim bhai comes around it becomes easier at the top especially in overseas Test matches.”