Mahmudullah defends Bangladesh's move to dish out a spinning track in Dhaka

Sri Lanka won the second Test by 215 runs.

Bangladesh under Mahmudullah lost the Test series 1-0. (AFP)

Having lost the second Test match against Sri Lanka and thereby the series, Bangladesh stand-in skipper Mahmudullah Riyad has defended his decision of playing on a spin-friendly pitch, thereby preparing a pitch according to the strength of the home team.

The first Test match in Chittagong saw batsmen from both the teams scoring a mountain of runs. However, the ICC rated the pitch as "below average" for not supporting the bowlers in the match at all. 

However, as it turned out Sri Lanka were the better-equipped team to counter the spin of the pitch and eventually went on to win the Test match. Rangana Herath and Akila Dananjaya wrecked havoc through the Bangladesh batting line up in the second innings thereby curbing out a memorable Test series win against their opponents.

Going on to defend his decision, Mahmudullah said "Cricket is like a gamble," Mahmudullah said after the defeat. "We knew about their strength against spin, while we backed our spinners. We knew it will be challenging for our batsmen and we had the confidence that our batsmen will be able to take he challenge. Unfortunately, it did not happen."

"We must make this kind of gamble. There is no use playing Tests with a defensive mindset and play on a dead wicket. In Chittagong, our batsmen batted well so we took this chance. I think we should have done better in the first innings. Chasing over 300 runs in the second innings is difficult. If we could've gotten close to their target in the first innings things could have been different. You must bat with a positive intent or else if you give the bowlers a chance to settle you would be in enormous trouble" the Bangladesh skipper went on to justify his decision.

Mahmudullah also criticised his team's batting perfomance in the way that their batsmen played the spinners. "The difference was that when you look at Herath, Perera or Akila's bowling, you will find that we had to take lots of risks to hit boundaries off them. On the other hand our bowlers bowled five good deliveries before bowling a loose one to give away an easy boundary. We have to work on this aspect. We needed more patience on this wicket. The spinners could have bowled better although the batsmen are to blame.rmance against the Sri Lankan spinners. Mahmudullah rued Bangladesh's failure to match the consistency levels of the Sri Lankan spinners and felt they need to work on that".

He concluded by saying the batting performance from Bangladesh could have been a lot better and also better could have been their choice of shots. 

"We should have been more careful with the choice of shots, on this wicket, first innings becomes crucial. Their bowlers were very good, always kept us under pressure," Mahmudullah concluded. 

The two-match T20I series between the two countries starts from February 15. 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 11 Feb, 2018

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