Will Tigers revisit Pindi template in Mirpur?

Nahid Rana appeared at the Mirpur centre wickets near the evening yesterday and visualised bowling on the green track, ahead of his team’s upcoming two Tests against Pakistan. Visualisation has sort of become a habit for the Bangladesh speedster, and he would no doubt have those memories from Rawalpindi in 2024, when Bangladesh put down a statement with their pace attack during a 2-0 series win.

The surface may not remain as green on Friday once trimmed, but it is evident that the home side are banking on their primary strength: pace.

Before Rawalpindi Tests, Bangladesh’s pace attack had a cumulative strike-rate of 98.3 against Pakistan. During the series, that improved sharply to 48.4, with Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Rana and Shoriful Islam sharing 21 wickets. In the second innings of the second Test, Rana, Hasan and Taskin combined for all 10 wickets -- a first in Bangladesh’s Test history.

That series win became a template, as Bangladesh had prepared wickets with a little bounce and pace in the most recent ODI series against Pakistan at home. At the beginning of this cycle, the Tigers are eager to get wins under their belt and are going for the tried and tested.

With pace being pitted against pace, just like in Rawalpindi, Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons was asked which pace unit would fare better.

“I think we have two good fast bowling units… and two good spinning units… it’s about who take hold of the important moments,” Simmons said at yesterday’s press conference, warning that on a “good cricket pitch”, it is the batters who will have to “bat long and get big scores.”

“We’ve got to put in place how we bat against them. You want to be higher in the rankings, so you have to play against all these top-class bowlers.”

The former West Indies allrounder tried to downplay the effect of that last Test series in Rawalpindi. “It doesn’t matter what happened then. Yes, you keep it in your mind, it gives you a boost inside that you won the last game, but it’s a new game, it’s a new place.”

There are suggestions that the visitors may opt for a lone spinner in Noman Ali for the Mirpur Test due to the sporting conditions in store, which is usually not the norm in Bangladesh.

Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi said the Pakistan bowling unit will be up to the challenge.

“Bangladesh have always prepared spin tracks at home in the past. Home teams always utilise their own conditions,” Shaheen said.

“We also used home conditions for our spinners because visiting teams struggled against spin. Now, the track is green. Our bowlers are ready for the challenge. We know how to use these conditions to take wickets and win games for Pakistan.”