Bangladesh skipper Mehidy Hasan has defended the black soil wickets prepared for the three-match ODI series against West Indies as he believes every team around the world takes advantage of home conditions.
The black soil wickets turned out to be topic of discussion in the just concluded series that Bangladesh won by a 2-1 margin as it hardly offered anything for the pacers while batting seemed to be extremely difficult at times. West Indies during the second ODI created a world record by bowling 50 overs with spinners while the pacers bowled only 32.4 overs in the entire series with Mustafizur Rahman not getting a chance to bowl even a single over in the third ODI.
“We always know what the Mirpur wicket will be like. This is not new to us. And I have been playing international cricket for, I think, nine years, and I played here when I debuted, on this wicket. The difference is not that significant. But what I felt was the difference is that earlier when we played on this wicket, there was some grass. And now there is no grass on the wicket. So that is the thing. And with grass, the ball sometimes skids. And since there is no grass on the wicket, the ball becomes a bit slow. But I think that is the difference. I don’t see any other difference,” said Mehidy.
“Wherever you play in the world, whoever we play against, they take the home advantage. And I believe that when I played in New Zealand, they took the home advantage. So, if any team comes to Bangladesh, we will definitely take our home advantage because at the end of the day, everyone wants the result,” he said.
Mehidy also dismissed suggestions that playing on these wickets will not prove to be ideal in terms of preparation for the next ODI World Cup scheduled to be held in South Africa. “No (it won’t have an impact) we have many more home series. It’s not like we will play all the matches here. We might play many matches abroad as well. And since we have games in Africa, we might be able to prepare better before the Africa games, the team management and all of us,” said Mehidy.
“The World Cup is still a long way off. So, we should focus on the series we have ahead and first fix our position, because we need to fix our place and standing,” he said.
“Maybe we couldn’t do very well at the World Cup, and that requires a separate process and a separate planning. And I think that planning should start two to three months in advance – how we will play before the World Cup, how we will conduct skill camps, what our preparation will be, and where we will practice. That’s how those things should be done. But for bilateral series, I think home advantage is very important,” he said.
Mehidy, whose captaincy is under the scanner as he managed only three wins from 13 games so far, insisted that he is not thinking too far ahead as he is only concentrating for the year that he is supposed to lead.
“I am not thinking too far ahead and my goal is to improve Bangladesh’s position within this one-year term and through all the matches we have. When I took over as captain, the team was ranked number 10. It is still 10 now. Yes, we’ve lost several matches in between, but when everyone performs and the team doesn’t get results, the responsibility naturally falls on the captain,” he said.
“When the team does well, it’s because everyone played together. I’m not worrying about personal tenure or how long I captain. Today it’s me and tomorrow it might be someone else. At the end of the day, it’s about Bangladesh. We are playing for the country, and our goal is to take the team to a better place,” he said adding that the former national skippers Mashrafee bin Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal are guiding him from behind so that he can lead the side better.
“This is my third series as captain. I led in the West Indies, but I wasn’t the full-time captain then. Shanto was in charge, and I stepped in due to his injury. It was definitely tough at the start, but the more I captain, the more I grow and develop,” said Mehidy.
“Tamim Bhai called to explain how I could approach things better. Both of them are among the most successful captains in Bangladesh cricket, and their encouragement has been very motivating, especially after the challenges of the last two series. We’ve had many discussions, and I feel very positive about their guidance,” he said.
