A dose of pace

Eyes were blinked, heads were scratched and a sense of confusion seemed to spread across the Mirpur press box as soon as Bangladesh's team for the first ODI against India was announced yesterday.

Out of the blue, the Tigers had decided to field four specialist pacers, a decision which came as a surprise due to a number of reasons. For one, the bowler who was replaced -- Arafat Sunny -- did little wrong in the last few matches. He was, in fact, the highest wicket-taker in the Pakistan series.

Secondly, the pacer who came in place of him, Mustafizur Rahman, had played just one T20I prior to the match yesterday.

Now this wasn't the first time that Bangladesh had employed four specialist pacers in their side, but it has been a while since the home crowd got to witness such a combination.

The last time Bangladesh's pacers bowled more than 35 overs in an ODI at home was back on December 26, 2004 with Khaled Mahmud, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Tapash Baisya and Nazmul Hossain forming Bangladesh's attack against India.

Incidentally, Bangladesh went on to win that game at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

There was always a chance to use the left-handed Mustafizur as a surprise element in this series, however to go with him in the very first match -- instead of a more sedate and safe segment of the competition -- was a move that not many had expected.

But then again, expecting the unexpected has seemed to be the motto of the Chandika Hathurusingha-led team management, ever since the Sri Lankan took over in June last year.

The last year has witnessed the team management employ a number of moves that one can't generally associate with the men in green. They have been more aggressive, and the urge to win seems to have doubled.

Right from smothering the Indians with pace and bounce in June last year -- in an attempt to play to their weakness -- to stepping out of the mentality of filling the eleven with slow left-armers, there's been this conscious effort to change the look of the team.

In fact, the changed mindset was witnessed in the lone Test against India as well. Bangladesh's team management decided to field just one pacer and four spinners -- a move that came under heavy scrutiny.

However, from the way Ravi Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh turned the ball in the latter days of that Test in Fatullah, one could say that the objective there too was to go on an all-out attack against the visitors; to go with the only tactic that could give them a possible win.

Yesterday was no different. The only reason why Mustafizur was brought in was because the management wanted to hurt India at their most vulnerable point of the series -- right at the beginning.

They decided to bring in a bowler that India had never seen before; they wanted to make the visiting batsmen pay for all those extra hours they put in against slow left-armers in the nets.

'Guess what? We just have one slow left-armer in the side. Now here's a dose of our pacers' was the message.

There's no doubt that a certain amount of risk remains in these tactics. But in circumstances like these, it's not the result that matters, but the thinking; the ideas behind the moves; an aspect that has provided Bangladesh's fans with some much-needed fresh air in the last one year.