Bangladesh’s newly appointed Test captain Najmul Hossain said on Monday that winning at home and competing abroad is their goal as they begin their World Test Championship cycle by taking on New Zealand in a two-match Test series, scheduled in Sylhet from November 28.
Bangladesh were at the bottom of the table in the two previous cycles of the ICC Test Championship. While they managed a draw against New Zealand in the first cycle, they found success against them at their home with a win while also drawing against Sri Lanka.
“Our first priority is winning at home and later be competitive abroad,” Najmul told reporters ahead of their game against New Zealand at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
“We will play 14 Test matches this year and 12 next year and those are important. The matches that will be played at home, it is important to win those games and that is our first goal as a team and secondly how we can compete abroad,” he said
“The bowling and batting order that we have… we are capable of winning at home and we need to make that into a habit,” he said.
“If we can execute the plans we made, we have chance of doing well. We have made plans regarding winning the match with players we have available here. No one is thinking negatively. We will play to win and everyone has that belief,” he added.
Najmul admitted Bangladesh will miss the services of regular skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who is out with injury. “Yes, Shakib bhai will be missed. All the players will miss him. He called me up to talk about the team yesterday night. I talked with him and he congratulated me and had good wishes for the players to do well. He said that we should do what we do well,” Najmul said.
“I won’t say it’s a new team but we have less experience. Of course there comes a time [when seniors won’t be there]… Shakib bhai, Tamim bhai, Riyad bhai and Mushfiqur bhai are still playing. Some day they won’t be playing. I believe it’s an opportunity for those of us who are young. They need to take it as a challenge and every player is ready to take that challenge and plan accordingly,” he added.
At a venue where a Test match is about to be played after long gap of five years, Najmul and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha spent a lot of time observing the pitch on the eve of the match.
“There haven’t been many Tests here. Whatever was played were first-class games so that’s all the idea we have. It’s not like we held long discussion over the wicket but we have tried to understand what it is like,” Najmul said.
“I believe whenever a side plays at home, they procure some advantage automatically. We will try to take those. When the match begins tomorrow we will get a clear idea. In the first session it could be understood how the wicket is behaving. We have gotten some ideas about the wicket,” he added, before stressing how important the toss factor could be.
“I feel the toss will be very important. All the players are ready whether we bat or bowl first. It’s about how we can play our roles.,” he said, adding that some of the members of the Test squad had a good preparation leading up to the series as they were playing National Cricket League, country’s traditional first-class tournament, when others were busy with white-ball cricket.
“I feel Zakir, Joy, Shadman and Saurav bhai are in the top-order. I am there too and have played one game. They played the NCL and weren’t in the World Cup. I feel their preparations have gone well and everyone was amongst runs. So that’s one thing that they didn’t have anything similar to the World Cup,” Najmul said.
“The rest of us, obviously we had a bad time at the World Cup. But that was the ODI format and this is Tests. We were in a good position in the last Test against Afghanistan. That was a good match and we will carry that confidence in this game. Hoping those that played first-class game and how they performed, will carry it here,” he said.
Najmul, who led the side in three ODIs so far – including the games against India and Australia in the just-concluded World Cup after Shakib failed to regain full fitness, is now the front-runner to get captaincy in all formats on a permanent basis.
“A captain is a captain. I personally believe I am capable of leading in all the formats. It’s a personal belief. Given the situation the team is in, whoever becomes the captain, if he is given a long tenure then it would be easier for him to make plans. Whoever is named the captain, I believe that if he gets enough opportunities he can achieve something great,” he said.
