Does it begin with a ruse?
It was an optional training session for the Tigers yesterday as they made their final preparations ahead of the first ODI against champions of both white-ball formats England. Seniors Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim turned up for the nets session and, in the morning, Taijul Islam bowled at one of the wickets just beside the one to be used for the game today. The deliveries bounced quite a bit, providing some insight into what the wicket tomorrow may behave like. It may also be a ruse; a puzzle for England to work on before the game.
An official involved with the England team management asked this reporter while the team were training at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium turf: "Do you think it will be kind of low and spinning?". The interest in the wicket had been growing and England were apparently expecting it to be low and slow.
The official concerned seemed to suggest that it was an exciting prospect to be playing in the subcontinent, especially given the 2023 ODI World Cup will be staged in India. Spin is key here but given that wickets at ICC events tend to be sporting, it could be something different that England are served. Meanwhile, Taijul also batted at the nets today, lending credence to the idea of a three-pronged spin-attack alongside Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Miraz.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The presence of an England pace attack featuring Jofra Archer and Mark Wood must have made the Bangladesh team management think. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha said at the press conference that facing the faster bowlers would be a challenge.
"They have one of the best pace attacks in the world. They have five fast bowlers and three spinners on this tour. The challenge will be to play their fast bowlers in this series," he said.
For Bangladesh, Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid will also pose challenges. If there is a wicket with bounce and spin, the prospect will be as difficult for Bangladesh as it will be for England.
We're not sloggers, our team generally are good at playing that sort of aggressive cricket and they play with proper cricket shots a lot of the time. The guys do sometimes take the time and play the way they play and, it has just become natural. I think it's more the confidence of playing that way and not being afraid to get out playing a certain way.
"I don't think there will be many changes in the first two games. We have been successful. The combination depends on the pitch. There are no surprises other than that," Hathurusingha said about team combination. The choice between pacers Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Ebadot Hossain will depend on the kind of surface.
The talk ahead of the series as far as Bangladesh were concerned surrounded the breakdown in the relationship between Tamim and Shakib that BCB president Nazmul Hassan had alluded to in an interview recently. While talking to Rob Keys, the managing director of the England cricket team, he felt such things can serve something different.
"Ahead of a series, sometimes all the talk is about batters' technique and stuff. So focusing on something like that can actually take the focus away from things that you want focus to be away from. I read everything, but for the players, it's sometimes better not to read anything at all. But sometimes it's much worse to think about those [technical things] than reading something like that," he told The Daily Star.
Hathurusingha put it bluntly, saying his players "didn't need to be friends to go out and play as a team".
Meanwhile, the bounce present when Taijul bowled yesterday at the centre wickets could make England think differently. Moeen Ali recently played the BPL and, when asked to characterise the pitch for the first ODI, said: "I'm not sure. Obviously depends on how the groundsman has prepared the wicket over the last two weeks. But normally it's a very good wicket here."
Ruse or not, the wicket was England's headache ahead of the first ODI.
"We are playing full strength. I don't think they [England] have come with their full strength," Hathurusingha reminded yesterday.
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