Bangladesh bowling coach Heath Streak has learnt quite a few Bangla words for better communication with his charges. The former Zimbabwe all-rounder did not hesitate to show them off while taking guard for an impromptu press briefing after conducting a one-and-half-hour practice session for Mustafizur Rahman at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday.

"Taratari [quickly], cholo, cholo [go, go], asho [come]," he uttered when a TV reporter was getting late to join the briefing.

It sparked quite a humour and Streak was immediately confronted with the question of how he communicated with Mustafizur regarding the technical details while training.

"I'm teaching him [Mustafizur] English and he is teaching me Bangla," said Streak with big smile on his face.

While getting into the business end of the discussion, the Zimbabwean said that the pace bowler was nearing full fitness.

"We are trying to get him ready for the Australia match. He is looking good at the moment. But we can't say anything until the day of the match. You can see that he is close to full pace," Streak said about the progress of the 20-year-old bowler.

Almost at full fitness, 'Fizz' is in full flow as he bowls a delivery during training at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday. PHOTOS: BCB

"He is such a key player for us. I think just even having him in the Asia Cup final would have given us a good chance of defending the total we had set against India. Of course he had a big success against Pakistan, so that definitely would have been a factor for us if we had him in our side for our first game against Pakistan. But injuries to fast bowlers happen and you can't control that," Streak said while responding to a question of how disappointing it was for Bangladesh not have Mustafizur against Pakistan at Eden Gardens in their opening match of the World Twenty20.

Streak also defended the decision to carry an injured Mustafizur for a long time despite the fact that it disturbed the team's plan and to some extent might have given a wrong signal to the other members.

"He is such a key bowler for us. So to have him hopefully available for the next three games will be very good for us. You know his preparation before his injury and his lead up to these games. So, hopefully it goes well for us and pays off," said Streak, adding that the team management would have given the same treatment to any other key member of the squad.

About the big challenges for his bowlers against Australia and India on a ground that has a history of producing a lot of runs, he said: "This is a very good batting wicket and you need to adjust to this condition. We know Bangalore is a very high scoring ground. He [Mustafizur] is going to have a big challenge, like all the bowlers and they need to be on top of their game."

Furthermore he also had good words to speak about Taskin Ahmed's performance against Pakistan.

"I thought Taskin had a very good performance against Pakistan and bowled with good speed, given that he had spent two days travelling for the test [of his bowling action] and bowling there. Obviously, it was a very flat wicket and the outfield was very quick and it was pretty tough for the bowlers. But they all know that we could have bowled better."

He said that the onus would be on the batsmen to score runs on such a placid wicket.

"I think it will be good for our batters. Guys like Sabbir [Rahman] had a good game here for the A team and hopefully they can take confidence from that," he said.