Misreading of conditions leads to wasted home advantage

Nobody quite said it but it was still clear as day. Bangladesh may have prepared well enough going into the South Africa series but they failed to plan ahead.

Coaches, captains and selectors often say that having all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in the side helps with the combination. So, when Shakib was unable to take part in the first Test, the think tank failed to come up with the right decisions.

Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto talked about facing problems in balancing the side without Shakib even a day before the Test but said that as the match would take place on a traditional Mirpur track, their experience of playing in Mirpur would help them set up the game.

But as it turned out, they had read the conditions wrong, hence made wrong choices and the outcome as a result did not fall in their favour.

South Africa's team management had decoded early that the moisture trapped in a wicket that has not been used for a while will help the bowlers and picked a balanced attack of two pacers and two spinners.

The first day's play saw plenty of seam and bounce for the faster bowlers with sharp turn for spinners. Pace would hold sway for the rest of the Test as Kagiso Rabada tormented Bangladesh with nine wickets in two innings.

Asked yesterday after the game whether in hindsight South Africa would have picked one more seamer, skipper Aiden Markram gave a knowing smile.

"In hindsight, with the toss and with the team, yeah definitely. The amount of seam movement and invariable bounce here and there, extra bounce here and there, you would have loved to have an extra seamer. I think both teams would agree to that," Markram said.

But Proteas still had the nous to pick at least two pacers. The extra zip in the surface, the movement and bounce worked greatly to the visitors' advantage. Bangladesh on the other hand picked just one in Hasan Mahmud.

Without Shakib, who can serve equally as a bowler and a batter, Bangladesh went for a third spinner instead of a second pacer and packed the team with an extra batter. They walked back on their improvement curve in Tests.

Shanto had said this Test was an opportunity since they have never beaten South Africa in Tests. But by picking just one pacer, they let that advantage slip away.

Taijul Islam did what he was supposed to do but Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Nayeem Islam did not have the expected impact. The surface simply was not as conducive to spin as Bangladesh thought it would be. When the ball was old, they failed to break partnerships. Hasan remained a threat as the sole pacer, but only from one end.

Miraz outlined the tactical blunder without saying it.

"We expected turn on this Mirpur wicket and that spinners would dominate. We have played with one pacer before," Miraz said, even as those tactics hurt Bangladesh's Test cricket in the long run.

"In Mirpur spinners usually dominate but the conditions became different," Miraz added.

Ruing Shakib's absence, Bangladesh devised a safe ploy, which ultimately did not work as they read the conditions wrong.

Moving ahead, when Bangladesh play a home Test without Shakib, the big question would be how they go about securing home advantage.