Bangladesh made history with a 546-run win against Afghanistan, and Bangladesh National Team head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe thought it was more than a Test win.
The coach promised that the Tigers are going to continue playing positive cricket in the coming days while talking to the press on Sunday afternoon.
Bangladesh had been struggling in Test cricket for some time yet they had quality players in the format. Many tried to point out where the team was lacking but the results were not satisfying.
When Hathurusinghe was appointed as the head coach for the second time, he wanted to change the way the Cricketers think and bring positive changes in their approach while on the field.
After the record win over the Afghans, the Lankan coach said, the win was more than just a Test win.
He said, “The way we prepared for this game, we haven’t done that before. We thought, what if we prepare the wicket fast and green? We thought that it would be a big win for us to play on that type of wicket because the fear of conditions has been a big mental barrier that we wanted to break.”
“Before the game, I felt, a lot of people had doubted the way we go. If you have noticed, we even played in a way normally we don’t, we had a different streak. So, I think it was a Test more than to test with,” he added.
The coach also thanked Gamini de Silva, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's head curator of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur saying, “Gamini is also to be given credit for preparing that kind of wicket.”
When asked about batting temperament, the head coach said that a similar approach would continue if the pitch is conducive to it.
He said, “Conditions are important, we wanted a type of condition which is good for positive cricket. If the condition is conducive for positive batting, we will definitely do that, that’s all we trained them for. We gave them freedom to score runs, this game was about scoring runs. If the condition is difficult, yes, we will be smart enough to bat the way the conditions allow us to bat.”
The one-off Test match saw a couple of new faces in the Bangladesh squad. Zakir Hasan being one of them, was quite impressive in the opening as he scored 71 runs in the second innings. Mahmudul Hasan Joy also batted well. The coach expressed how highly he thought of these two.
“I was very impressed actually. For the first time, I saw Zakir batting. You know that he got injured after those India games. So, here’s a really good start in his Test career. He is good against pace and good against spin, a very rare combo. And Joy showed good temperament in the way he batted, his record also says that if you get a good start, go with it. So, really positives from those two youngsters," the Sri Lankan said.
When asked about Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan’s return to the team, the coach said, “They are just getting into light training. If you see, they are just getting into a little bit of skill training. Behind those, there are lots of fitness stuff, strength, and rehab stuff.”
About pacers showing character and finally a reliable pace attack, he said, “Previously, we had our strength in our spin and we realised that was our biggest strength to win games against the opposition. Now, we have options in fast bowling who can win us matches. The pleasing thing is, fast wicket or bouncy wicket, they don’t get carried away. The way they bowled was so good, very professional approach. They didn’t use the bouncers, they bowled mostly on the front foot. Those little things show the maturity of fast bowlers, they have come a long way. I am very pleased.”
