David Hemp, Bangladesh’s batting coach expressed his concerns over the batters not being able to convert good starts into big scores. Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam, the openers for Bangladesh, put up a half-century opening stand in the run chase of 515 runs, but they could not convert their starts in the second innings. Shadman made 35 and appeared ready to give the tourists a strong platform while Zakir made 33 and was dismissed by Bumrah, thanks to an exceptional catch at gully by Jaiswal.
“It is something that we talk about. It goes without saying that you need to start well and once you have faced 20-30 balls, you get a bit of idea of what’s happening. You want to go on from that, especially when you have got 30-40 runs. You are generally in (at that stage),” Hemp said while talking to the media after the day’s play.
“You have done the hard work, so make sure you cash in. We did it in patches in Pakistan. We will keep talking about it, and keep working on it in practice. We have to get ourselves in first, as that’s something we haven’t done well enough. If you go back to March (against Sri Lanka), we were not doing well enough. So we are doing that better. But once you get to 40-60 balls, ideally you bat 120 balls. When you do that, you will walk away with a reasonable reward,” he said.
Hemp acknowledged the opponent’s bowling attack may benefit from the fact that Bangladesh has the top four batters as left-handers in the lineup since they won’t have to alter their lines. “I think yes, from a bowling lines’ point of view they are quite similar but they are all different. They score off different lengths and have different strengths. Bit of yes and no. You mix and match the batting order in one-day cricket, but I don’t think that’s an issue for us,” said Hemp.
The batting coach expressed his disappointment at not being able to bat longer on a pitch that was getting easier for the batters, but he also stated that they were not giving up and that he only wanted his players to be in a good mindset. “I think India has won 17 Test series at home. Everyone knows how formidable they are anywhere in the world, particularly at home. We talked about the opportunities that present themselves. It has to be in the front of our mind otherwise there’s no point coming to compete,” said Hemp.
“We understand that there are threats, but also look at opportunities. How can we impact the game from our strengths? As an example, nullify bowlers at certain times but be wary of where the fields are so that they can’t get into a pattern of bowling at one particular person.
“Look to score so that when they miss, we can cash in. Indian bowlers are also human. They won’t execute all the time. But if you are not looking to score, you will miss out on scoring opportunities. If we are to challenge the top-ranked teams like India, England, and Australia, that’s the mindset. In terms of days to bat, it’s still a good wicket. Yes, today we saw Ashwin got a couple of balls to bounce quite significantly. But it’s still a wicket where you can score runs. So for us, tomorrow is still a reasonable surface. 360 to win I think? Let’s see what happens tomorrow,” he concluded.
ALSO READ: Gabba heroes Pant and Gill boss day three at Chepauk
