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“It’s the same everywhere: top of off [stump],” Taskin said on the lines fast bowlers should target in Chattogram. “If we try to force the issue, it won’t work in our favour. We will leak runs. They are good players, so we have to get the new ball to swing a bit. Maybe get reverse swing with the old ball. We have to try to break their patience. We have to bowl patiently and wait for their mistakes. It won’t be right to say that we want to blow them away.
“Fast bowlers ideally want to bowl on green tops. Conditions are not in our hands. We have got slow and flat tracks in South Africa and New Zealand. We have to make ourselves so skilful that we can bowl well on all types of wickets. Great bowlers are also getting five-fors on flat tracks. We have to focus on our self-improvement rather than [look at] conditions.”
Taskin isn’t a sure starter for the first Test that gets underway on Wednesday. As he slowly works himself back to full fitness, he admits he isn’t entirely sure whether his workload build-up is up to the standard set by the team management.
“The team management is concerned about my workload build-up. I have just returned from an injury, so I am working on increasing workload build-up, fitness and bowling load.
“If I can fulfil the load before this game, they may think of playing me. If not, then I might not play this Test. I might be playing the second Test in that case. I have spoken to them about it. I am following my workload plan,” he said.
“As a pace bowling group, we are hungry for improvement. We are all in it together. Work ethic has improved. This is all we have in our hands.”
Taskin Ahmed
“Chittagong is a batting paradise in Bangladesh. It has never been easy for fast bowlers here. We are improving but we are yet to get favourable wickets. It is usually a batting track,” he said.
“Test cricket is always challenging. We have won Tests by taking it to the fifth day, so here too, we have to take the game into the fifth day.”
Bangladesh are likely to go into the first Test with two fast bowlers, a combination favoured by the team management at home. Still, Taskin, Khaled Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain have shown enough evidence that they can carry the bowling attack in most conditions. Taskin believes that Bangladesh’s fast-bowling unit has shown improvement in all three formats, with the focus being on better work ethic and desire.
“As a pace bowling group, we are hungry for improvement. We are all in it together. Work ethic has improved. This is all we have in our hands. The management is with us, so if our desire remains, we can do better,” he said.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
Source: ESPN Crickinfo