‘Bowling quick is my strength’

Ebadot Hossain has transformed into one of the finest bowlers in Bangladesh's pace-bowling unit, which has started to show great promise in recent times. The 29-year-old has emerged as a cross-format pacer for the Tigers and spoke with The Daily Star's Mazhar Uddin during an exclusive interview, sharing insight into his work ethic, ambition and a few other topics. The excerpts of the interview are given below:

The Daily Star(DS): The national camp for the Ireland series is beginning from today in Sylhet. How's the preparation?

Ebadot Hossain (EH): I already started my personal preparations during Ramadan. I have been working on my fitness in the gym in the evening. We won't get weather exactly like England, but what I can do is to maintain my fitness. I can't be relaxed during a break. I am in touch with a trainer, who suggested spot-bowling three-four times a day and I did.

DS: Although you got your international debut in the Test format, you have gradually transformed into a cross-format bowler. How did you manage to adjust to white-ball cricket?

EH: When I was only playing Test cricket, I used to tell our then pace-bowling coach Ottis Gibson of my desire to play white-ball cricket as well and he encouraged me. At the same time, he also prescribed a few areas of improvement, which helped me cope with the white-ball formats. I am still following the process shown by Gibson and getting results till now. Whenever I struggle, I go back to basics. Also improving fitness is very important since I am now playing three formats. It is also important to be able to play with the batters' mind so you need to be smart.

DS: Can you elaborate on the specific areas of improvement that Gibson pointed out?

EH: In Tests, I normally used to bowl at the same speed throughout the day, which is okay for the longer version. But in limited-over formats, you need variation. You have to bowl a certain way with the new ball but that changes when it's a semi-new ball. It's different again when you bowl in death overs. He handed me the white ball and asked me to bowl at the centre wickets under different scenarios. I learned how to bowl in three different ways with the same ball.

DS: You have shown consistency in bowling yorkers, especially in the death overs. Obviously variations are key, but do you believe speed is your strength?

EH: Even [ODI captain] Tamim [Iqbal] bhai wants me to bowl fast and aggressive. Since the captain wants that from me and since those are my two main weapons, it gives me freedom to give my best. He said even if I conceded 60 or 80 runs, he wouldn't mind as long as I was able to bowl quick and at a consistent line where the batters struggle to play. And I am able to get breakthroughs. If you noticed, previously the spinners would come after 10 overs. But this trend has changed as dominant pacers like Mark Wood, Lockie Ferguson and other threatening bowlers try to dominate, which I am trying to implement.

DS: You were instrumental in Bangladesh's historic Test win against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui. Since then, the Bangladesh pace-bowling department has stepped up to play match-winning roles. Where does this belief come from?

EH: To be honest, Ottis Gibson laid this foundation for us and another person I would like to mention is our former Test captain Mominul Haque. This man has helped us immensely and I can't describe the amount of belief he showed us. Mominul bhai used to sit with us and encourage our pace-bowling department a lot. I think both Gibson and Mominul bhai helped us to change the mindset and improve as a pace-bowling unit.

DS: What are the areas current pace-bowling coach Allan Donald is emphasising?

EH: Donald is focusing on instilling an aggressive mindset. If Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman and I are all receptive to aggressive bowling. Donald himself was a dominant bowler and was nicknamed 'White Lightning' for that reason. At times we make mistakes but you may have noticed that he will rush towards us and try to remind us.

DS: Do you wish to bowl even quicker in the future?

EH: Not really. I clicked 149.6 kmph during the Ireland series but there is no desire to set any target to click the fastest delivery. Bowling quick is my strength and I will continue to work. When I was in the pacer hunt, my pace was around 139 kmph and now its 149.6. That's a massive jump. It's not a matter of joke to increase 10 kmph during this period.

DS: We all know about your trademark salute after picking up a wicket. But are you aware that Virat Kohli was unable to score a century for nearly three years after you gave him a send-off with that salute?

EH: (Smiles) Look, everyone makes fun of it but I don't believe this. I think Kohli went through a tough phase and that's it. But yes, since then my teammates started to request me not to salute them and make fun. Even after dismissing Mohammad Rizwan, I gave him a salute and many were saying his career was done. But he went on to score hundreds after that.