Hopeful of better wickets at home, will help Bangladesh ahead of big tournaments: Taskin Ahmed

Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed said that the Tigers need to play on sporting pitches at home to get themselves better prepared ahead of tournaments like the World Cup. Bangladesh started with two wins out of three games in the Qualifiers, but have slumped to four losses on the trot in the Super 12. On Tuesday, South Africa defeated them by six wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Bangladesh, captained by Mahmudullah, have already been knocked out of the tournament as they are placed at the bottom of Group 1 with a net run rate of -1.435. Taskin, who finished with figures of 4-0-18-2 against the Proteas, said that better pitches at home will help the Tigers improve their batting and bowling.

Our batting unit probably is low in confidence, says Taskin Ahmed

“We encountered sporting wickets in the World Cup, much different from Mirpur. We are hopeful of better wickets in the future. It will improve our bowling and batting. Regardless of the result, it will help us ahead of big tournaments,” Taskin told the reporters, Cricbuzz reported.

On November 2, Bangladesh were shot out for 84 in 18.2 overs after Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi wreaked havoc. On their poor batting display, Taskin said, “Our batting unit probably is low in confidence. At the end of the day, runs are a factor in T20s. We didn’t have regular big totals.”

The speedster reckoned that the pitch in Abu Dhabi assisted the fast bowlers to a large extent and a score around the 120-run mark would have been tough for South Africa to chase down.

“It could have been a different story if we made even 120 or 125. I think today’s wicket was different. The ball was seaming. There was off-the-pitch movement in both innings. They took nearly 14 overs to score 85 runs,” Taskin stated.

Taskin admitted that Bangladesh failed to perform to potential and the brickbats from all corners aren’t surprising. “Losing is not fun. Nobody wants to lose. We had great expectations, but we couldn’t play up to those expectations. All the criticism is quite natural,” he added.

The Tigers’ last and final game of the World Cup is against the Aaron Finch-led Australia on Thursday, November 4 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.