BSS, Chattogram :
While Bangladesh’s strategy to play four spinners in home Test, overlooking the credential of pacers sparked criticism even in the country, skipper Shakib Al Hasan did little care of it as he said he would do whatever it is required to win a Test match.
In the recent years, Bangladesh fielded just one pacer in a Test match and sometimes played without any pacer, which according to the critics demoralized the pacers and is the reason of fast bowler’s miserable performance in abroad.
“I didn’t care [the criticism] personally,” Shakib said ahead of Test against Afghanistan in which also Bangladesh is highly likely to field just one pacer alongside four spinners.
“When England and Australia play four pacers and one spinner in their condition, we don’t criticize them. So I don’t think we should care it. Our plan is to win the match and if we need three pacers or two pacers to win the match, we will do so. If we need just one pacer to win, we must do that. This is our plan to which we will stick to. We will do the things according to our plan.”
Shakib said that because of the pitch here is conducive to the spinners, they need to field more spinners in the team.
“In the past we played two pacers but we didn’t get success that much. That’s why we changed the plan and took the different route to win the Test match. I don’t think taking a different route to win the game is wrong thing. What is important is that the pacers should do well when they get the chance. They should make the team realize that they deserve the place in the team,” he remarked.
“In abroad we always play two or three pacers so their performance is vital in foreign condition. But in our country spinners’ performance is vital. We have two series coming up in India and Pakistan after this series. That time our pacers have to play vital role. So it’s not right that they have no role. But they should do their role perfectly when it matters most.”
Shakib said despite not possessing a quality leg-spinner in the side, they have the skill to take 20 wickets of the opponents at home ground what they proved in the past.
Shakib also said that to him what matters is only to win a game and he has no headache about how the people appreciate their playing style.
“We, cricketers, only know how important this match is to us and how hard work we do to win a match. We appreciate ourselves. It doesn’t matter for us how people or media appreciate us.”
