Skipper Mominul Haque, batsmen Nazmul Hossain Shant, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Sadman Islam and Liton Das sat in a circle with head coach Russell Domingo and batting coach Ashwell Prince. All they were listening to was Mushfiqur Rahim. In New Zealand, what the batsmen can do to be successful was the topic of discussion.
Arriving in New Zealand on December 10, the Bangladesh team had to go through a tiring quarantine. The team started their first training session on Tuesday.
Mushfiqur is the most experienced cricketer in the Bangladesh team. Presumably, he has the most playing experience for the team in New Zealand. Probably one of the coaches asked him to advise other players on New Zealand conditions.
Mushfiqur said that despite the intense challenge of the batsmen of the subcontinent in the pacey and bouncy wickets, New Zealand has a lot to offer in term of runs from their pitches.
‘If you want to get it, you have to show dedication, you have to have patience, 'there is a big difference between white ball and red ball in New Zealand. The red ball has something for the bowlers in the beginning. But there are many runs if one can settle down. Because the wicket here has a good bounce. The ball comes to the bat nicely,’ said Mushfiq.
Mushfiqur has scored 222 runs in 8 innings at an average of 31.81 in 4 Tests played in New Zealand so far. There is a century. He made 159 runs in Wellington in 2017. That 159-run innings is basically what made Mushfiqur average in New Zealand.
In the first innings of that Test in Wellington, Bangladesh declared the innings at mammoth 595 for 8. Another batsman was successful in that match over Mushfiq. It was Shakib Al Hasan who scored 217 runs is not in this series.
Despite making such a big run in the first innings, Bangladesh lost the match in the second innings. Despite playing 33 matches in all editions of the bilateral series in New Zealand, Bangladesh did not win and could not even draw a Test. If they want to do something different this time, the batsmen have to take the main responsibility. It remains to be seen whether Mominul Haque will be able to follow Mushfiqur's lead in scoring runs in New Zealand.
