Hard, unglamorous work, lack of popularity, and lots of blame when things go wrong – no wonder it’s the last choice of most eligible candidates

Sidharth Monga26-Nov-2022A cricket organisation recently fired a whole department.Actually, it is a bit of an educated assumption that the people in the department were sacked, given none of them had finished their terms, but the organisation has advertised for their jobs. The fact of the advertising, a requirement allegedly forced on the organisation by an independent review following a corruption scandal and cases of conflict of interest, is the only confirmed information anyone has on this development.Who in their right mind would apply for these jobs?Yes, you have assumed right. If the said organisation can be so callous, it must follow that it is able to get away with being thus. Cricket is among the few legal recreational drugs in India, and the BCCI are the only ones selling it.Not only does the BCCI operate in a monopoly market, if you are a former cricketer in India looking to work in cricket, you can’t afford to be on its wrong side. It has unchecked influence on the careers of commentators, coaches, media pundits, talent scouts and selectors. So, how difficult can it be for this body to replace one set of selectors with another?Related

• Tough but fair: selectors have prioritised future over sentiment

• Agarkar frontrunner to be the new India men's chairman of selectors

• Malhotra, Paranjape and Naik make up the BCCI's new Cricket Advisory Committee

• Lots of contenders but little opportunity as India ring in the changes

• Mongia, Maninder, Ratra, Das apply for India selector post

Not very. Don’t expect a beeline of suitable candidates. There might be many applications pouring in as we speak, but a job arguably more important than even that of the India head coach will now be most eligible people’s last choice. A commentary job is much less work, and comes with much less accountability and much more exposure and glamour. And with broadcasts branching out into regional languages, there are more commentary jobs out there than ever before. Coaching pays more, and there is often a public outcry if your contract is not extended, let alone if you are unceremoniously sacked.Selectors, punching bags for those who follow the sport and those who play it, fulfil an unpopular but crucial role. Even the easiest part of the job – selecting the first 15 in consultation with the team management – by its nature doesn’t endear them to people. In a country with a high volume of talent available, you are disappointing ten or so players at any given selection meeting. You have to balance what is best for the team with keeping players who are close to selection motivated.It is outside of picking the top 25 cricketers that your skill, your eye, your hard work, really shine through. You keep the next set of 25 identified and ready. You do this by watching matches that are not on TV, travelling to games all over India where you don’t always get replays. You tap into your informal network of junior selectors, coaches, match referees and umpires to add context to some of the numbers you get from matches you haven’t seen. You manage these players’ progress to a stage where they become contenders and catch the eye of the national captain and coach, who can’t possibly keep track of all the performers in domestic cricket.At least that’s how the set-up worked until A tours were curtailed during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Before that the selectors prided themselves in having replacements ready for most of the first-choice group. That system broke a little, and India have been among the slowest to reinstate developmental cricket in the aftermath of Covid.India’s selectors, whoever they are, have to work closely with the team management and have the BCCI secretary sitting in on their meetings•BCCILooking at the bigger picture, the selectors make more significant decisions than the team management. They decide the direction the team takes in the long run. Of course they do it in unison with the team management, but at least on paper the final call belongs to them.The “on paper” part is significant here. Chetan Sharma, the recently sacked chairman of selectors and his team will tend to agree. If they can be dismissed so easily, presumably by the board president or the secretary, is it really wise to have one of those officials (usually the secretary) sit in on each selection meeting and the other (usually the president) ratify each selection?Just imagine this job description: have integrity beyond reproach, travel a lot, stay unseen, make crucial decisions on which the future of the team and many more players rest, be unpopular, get paid a tenth of what the coach gets, open yourself up to being sacked by people who wield all the power and have little formal accountability, and have no public support while you’re at it.It is no surprise that the sharpest minds and bodies among retired cricketers choose other avenues as far as possible. And the latest turn of events has not done anything to make the job more attractive at a time when India desperately need to put their developmental systems back on track. Rahul Dravid with the senior team and VVS Laxman at the National Cricket Academy need a third ally with whom they can build the right squads and pick the right teams. During the time of the Committee of Administrators, put in charge of Indian cricket by the courts, the three-way team of senior coach Ravi Shastri, developmental coach Dravid, and chief selector MSK Prasad worked almost seamlessly.When India should be discussing progressive steps, such as whether they need a director of cricket to ensure similarly smooth operations, or if they need to split their coaching teams for red-ball and white-ball cricket, or if the selectors need more technical support in terms of videos and data, or if they need a younger, more recently retired representative on the selection committee to bring in first-hand T20 knowledge, there has instead been a massive step backwards.We will soon find out who has come forward to offer to select Indian teams. Hopefully they will not just have been desperate. Hopefully they will quickly be able to get into a working relationship with the team management, because we are already on the road to the 2023 World Cup and in a critical period of transition in Test cricket too.

T20 bowlers will always have fluctuating fortunes, and Mohit reminded us that being stoic at results is perhaps the best way to operate

Sidharth Monga27-May-20231:29

Moody lauds Titans’ relentless bowling attack

Mohit Sharma two matches ago: 4-0-54-0.


Akash Madhwal last match: 3.3-0-5-5.


Mohit on Friday: 2.2-0-10-5.


Madhwal on Friday: 4-0-52-1.Welcome to the world of bowlers in T20 cricket. The sooner they learn to be stoic, the better it is for their mental health.Or be like The Dude, to whom “The Stranger” said on a particularly bad day in : “A wiser fellow than me once said, ‘Sometimes you eat the b’ar, sometimes the b’ar, why, he eats you.”Related

• Boucher on Mumbai's injury situation: 'Stupid to open a can of worms now'

• Stats: Shubman Gill hammers highest IPL playoffs score

• Three sixes in Madhwal over told Gill 'maybe this is my day'

The b’ar here is “bear”, spoken in a thick southern American accent. It is a saying apparently prevalent among hunters. One day you get the bear, another day the bear gets you. And it depends on the bear more, and more often, than it depends on you. It is something that unbeknownst to The Dude at that time sums up his life’s unwitting philosophy: to be equanimous with his emotions, or as they say, “take it easy”.The bowler’s fate in T20s, too, depends less on their quality and more on the batters: are they taking risks, are the risks coming off? If you get caught up in the results, you might end up like The Dude’s angry friend, Walter Sobchak.Mohit was more like The Dude after his five-for. Asked by the broadcast how he managed to make wicket-taking look so easy – one every three balls – Mohit said he got lucky with the wickets. That is stoicism right there: being indifferent to 5 for 10 and 0 for 54.It is not to say you don’t plan and practise. As Mohit said, they had decided on a new plan for Suryakumar Yadav: don’t try too much against him, bowl length on pace.”When we analysed him in the team meeting, we concluded that if you try too much against him, it makes it easier for him because he has three-four shots in his mind already. We thought let him try his shots because his shots are slightly difficult to execute against the length ball. If we had gone for six sixes to length balls, we would have been okay with that.”Get fazed by a bad over? That’s, just like, your opinion, man•AFP/Getty ImagesMohit did get hit once for a six off a short-of-a-length ball, but he stuck to it, and Suryakumar tried his wristy ramp next ball and got bowled. On another day, that goes for a six over fine leg, and Mohit is actually questioning what they had decided: is it okay to get hit for six sixes to length balls? Yes Mohit planned, yes Mohit executed, but still a lot of it depended on what the batter decided to do with the ball. This time he ate the b’ar, but he knows it is just as likely the b’ar eats him next time.In longer formats, the batter is reacting to the quality of the ball; here he is obligated to hit out. In longer formats there are fewer restrictions on how much a bowler can bowl. So pulling one risk off is not enough. Just the length of the contest, and thus the increased value of the wicket, forces batters to react to the quality of the ball.There are some old-school hitters such as MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, who still rely on being ruthless on balls in their area and doffing their hat to ones that are not. However, the game is moving on from that. There are batters who play different shots to the same ball for no apparent rhyme or reason. They are just as likely to turn a slot ball into a wicket ball through premeditation as they are to turn a ‘good’ ball into a six.You might look at Ashish Nehra so animated, in the ear of the bowlers on the boundary line, sending instructions through David Miller if the bowlers are not close to him, not hiding emotion, and you might want to ask a version of what The Stranger asked The Dude: “Do you to use so many cuss words?” In the heat of the moment, Nehra might respond with his version of: “The f*** are you talking about?”However, under Nehra and Hardik Pandya, the Gujarat Titans bowlers – good as they might be as a unit – have developed a tendency to not get caught up in the results. It helps that they have so much experience in their bowling attack. We might even draw comfort from knowing they are out there, “taking ‘er easy for all us sinners”.

He has been expensive, but at the same time brings with him the ability to take wickets

Deivarayan Muthu11-Apr-2023In the absence of Dwayne Bravo, who is now Chennai Super Kings’ bowling coach, he has fronted up to bowl at the death. Then, when Super Kings lost Deepak Chahar to injury one over into the match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, he fronted up to bowl two overs in the powerplay and bowled Rohit Sharma with a beauty. With Ben Stokes and Mukesh Choudhary also injured, Tushar Deshpande has become Super Kings’ go-to seamer.Deshpande was a net bowler with Super Kings in IPL 2021 after having gone unsold at that auction. Two seasons on, Dhoni trusts him to bowl the tough overs.There’s a bit of Shardul Thakur about Deshpande. He can be expensive, but at the same time, he brings with him unpredictable variety and the ability to take wickets. Tim David walloped him for 6, 4, 6 but didn’t expect a grippy slower offcutter next ball, and ended up dragging a pull to deep midwicket. Deshpande can also crank it up to 140kph and surprise batters with extra pace.Related

Defensive Deshpande levels up to fill CSK's Bravo role

Tushar Deshpande has the pace, the wickets, and the makings of a bright future

How CSK's Theekshana and Pathirana have begun to grow into Bravo's shoes

Over-aggression, over-stepping – but no over-coaching for Deshpande

Chahar to undergo scans to determine extent of hamstring injury

“We believe in him,” MS Dhoni said after the game against Mumbai. “Also what happens is when you’re new, you have a different sort of pressure, but if you’ve already played IPL for a few games, then it becomes like a comeback. I feel, as a cricketer, it’s one of the worst feelings to have. But he had a very good domestic season and that helped.”We have been constantly talking to him about what needs to be done. He is very good at execution, but in the last couple of games, he had bowled no-balls and that’s not a very good feeling to have. When you’re at your bowling mark, that’s something you don’t want to have in your mind. I feel he’s improving; the delivery that Rohit got out to was a fantastic delivery. So, he has that potential, he can be much more consistent and we’re just hoping that he takes that added responsibility.”Deshpande had a rough start to the IPL 2023. As the first-ever Impact Player in the IPL, he leaked 51 runs in 3.2 overs against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad. Then, against Lucknow Super Giants at Chepauk, where he said the “crowd was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything”, he bowled an 11-ball over in the powerplay, which cost 18 runs.

“I’ve been working on yorkers. I feel it does not come naturally. Even if it comes naturally, you need to have the guts to execute that when you are under pressure”Tushar Deshpande

Deshpande has had issues with overstepping in the past too, but he put that horror over behind him and executed the best-laid plans of Bravo when he returned to bowl at the death. When he came back, Super Giants were 150 for 5 in 15 overs, chasing 218, with Nicholas Pooran on 31 off 15 balls, having just reverse-swept Ravindra Jadeja into the top-tier over point.At the time out, the message from Bravo was to bowl wide yorkers and hide them away from the reach of Pooran. Dhoni gave him three fielders on the off-side boundary – deep point, deep cover and long-off – including two of his best in Mitchell Santner and Ben Stokes. Deshpande stuck to the plan and gave up just one run off the first two balls to Pooran. He then darted another wide yorker – possibly wider than another set of stumps – and had Pooran slicing it to Stokes at long-off. Just six runs off the over to go with the wicket of Pooran. Game over for Super Giants.Deshpande admits that the yorker doesn’t come to him naturally, but he has been learning on the job from one of the best in the business. On Monday evening at the Chepauk nets, Bravo had both Deshpande and Dwaine Pretorius bowling both wide yorkers and straight yorkers under his supervision.”I think bowling at the death is something that comes with great responsibility,” Deshpande told select newspapers in Chennai. “I’ve been working on yorkers. I feel it does not come naturally. Even if it comes naturally, you need to have the guts to execute that when you are under pressure. So I feel staying in the moment helps.”MS Dhoni talks to Tushar Deshpande during the match against Lucknow Super Giants•BCCIThe yorker is arguably the hardest delivery to nail. Overpitch it, it’s a full toss. Under-pitch it, it’s a half-volley. Even if you nail it, you can disappear for runs. Deshpande has embraced that challenge.”If you’re bowling in the death, you have to accept that someday you are going to get hit,” he said. “So you need to stay in the present even if you get hit for a six off the first ball. I have the next five balls to come back in the game or take the batter out. So staying in the present and in the moment is very important, and I personally feel that the next five balls are an opportunity for a bowler to get his mark back in the game. So that is what helps while bowling at the death.”Those who have followed Deshpande in Mumbai’s cricket circles speak highly of his commitment and fortitude. Just days after he had lost his mother to cancer, Deshpande rejoined Mumbai’s squad for the 2019 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Delhi in Indore and bowled them to victory with figures of 4 for 19. Ajinkya Rahane, his captain at Mumbai and current team-mate at Super Kings, is also impressed with his progress.”Tushar has been bowling really well and he had a great [domestic] season for Mumbai,” Rahane said after the match against Mumbai. “Even in the match before this [game against Mumbai Indians], his comeback was really great. The first over was not up to the mark in the last game but the way he came back and the way he bowled in the death overs was really good. I’m really happy for him. [These are] still early days for him and he will learn a lot by playing matches and when you’re playing under Mahi <bhai, you’re sure that you will learn every time you’re out in the middle.”At the IPL 2022 auction, Super Kings raised their bid up to INR 7 crore to buy back Thakur, but he ultimately got away from them. They have now found another Mumbai player who can perform the role that Thakur used to do for them with the ball. Deshpande is no Thakur with the bat, but the introduction of the Impact Player rule means he need not be.

He’s cool and his batting is easy on the eye, but he’s also developing a habit of scoring tough, ugly runs

Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Jul-2023This being an article about Dhananjaya de Silva, one of Test batting’s foremost stylists, it must necessarily begin with an overwrought appreciation. (I don’t make the cricket-writing rules.)Let’s get the imagery out of the way. His batting brings to mind a cool, sweet drink on a scorching day, a dip in a babbling mountain stream, the sound of birdsong on a still morning, silk moving through air… look, you get it. You’ve probably read it before… batters whose movements at the crease are gloriously economical, whose cover drives reduce old men to tears, and whose lap sweeps fill the hearts of orphans.It helps that in de Silva’s case, he commits to the coolguy aesthetic completely. Long sleeves even in the suffocating Sri Lankan heat, plus the signature popped half-collar. These are reminders that while the rest of us collapse into sweaty puddles, de Silva’s got ice in his veins. When he is fielding, there are the shades. If you’ve watched him once, you could look over any field in the world on which he is playing and instantly pick him out.Related

Pakistan end 365-day winless streak where they last won

Pakistan turn on the gas to play Test cricket at turbo speed

Who has the best cover drive in the game today?

Shakeel and Agha Salman hit attacking fifties to snatch the momentum back for Pakistan

The fast bowling poetry of Naseem and Afridi

If this was all de Silva brought to Sri Lanka cricket, it would have been plenty. Sri Lanka doesn’t swoon over graceful batters in the way, say, England does. The island’s tastes have long run towards the M Sathasivam, Duleep Mendis, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya types – batters better defined by their audacity. But still, there is a separate bloodline, populated by Roy Dias’ flicks, Sidath Wettimuny’s drives, and Mahela Jayawardene’s late cuts. Y’know. The artists.Artists aren’t all fragile cut-your-own-ear-off types, though. And right now, de Silva is trying to prove it. Increasingly, he is making tough runs.In this match, he arrived at the crease with the score on 54 for 4, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah in glorious rhythm. He edged his first ball into his pad, poked nervily down the ground second ball, and clung white-knuckled (light-brown-knuckled?) to his wicket for the first 24 balls, during which he made eight. An artist forced to descend into the trenches. It doesn’t always look natural.

“It’s easy to put a gameplan together when you’ve played in one spot for a while. You figure out how to bat when wickets have fallen, and how to bat when a partnership is under way. These are things that naturally enter your body and your head when you play consistently in one spot”Dhananjaya de Silva

But then the game eases, and de Silva feels the flair come back into his fingers, and the bat is a paintbrush again. Pakistan’s quicks went short at him, on a Galle surface that had more bounce than most. De Silva’s pulls and hooks were imperious. To the spinners, he largely stayed at home, late-cutting often, sweeping sometimes. When he slunk down the track to lift Abrar Ahmed high over long-off, the casual ease had returned to his batting.Several overs later, he did the same to Noman Ali. That’s how he got to fifty, off 89th ball faced. Not long after that, a breezy sweep over cow corner, a slicing late cut off Abrar, then a flick through midwicket when the bowler went too full and straight, overcorrecting. These are the tropes. The Dhananjaya de Silva areas.Meanwhile, having quelled high-quality fast bowling on a pitch that has seen some rain, he was in the midst of a vital 129-run stand that revived his team. When Afridi and Naseem came back with reverse swing, he saw those spells out too. When Sadeera Samarawickrama came out for his tenth Test innings, de Silva was constantly in his ear, the pair putting on 57 together. When he got to his tenth century, he was batting in the company of the tail – something he’s become accustomed to.He had to do it ugly at the start, but by the time he got to his century, he was looking like the Dhananjaya de Silva we know•Associated PressIn 24 innings at No. 6, he averages 50.90 – his best in any position, by a distance.”I think the best chance I got was to bat in the same spot – at No. 6,” de Silva said after this innings. He’d been yanked up and down the order in the early part of his career. “I’ve been there for three or four years. It’s easy to put a gameplan together when you’ve played in one spot for a while. You figure out how to bat when wickets have fallen, and how to bat when a partnership is under way. These are things that naturally enter your body and your head when you play consistently in one spot.”On other recent occasions, he’s helped provide substance to what is – let’s be fair – a decidedly non-elite batting order. Some examples of this includes his Wellington 98 in an innings defeat, a 46 and 47 not out in the previous match in Christchurch that helped Sri Lanka stay in the match, and the 109 against Pakistan in Galle last year, when Sri Lanka sought to level the series.And then there are the other things. The catching behind the stumps off the spinners. Today, a sharp diving take, low to his right, sent Abdullah Shafique packing off the bowling of Prabath Jayasuriya. Plus the handy offspin overs, which come with the very occasional breakthrough (he has 34 Test wickets, one more than Angelo Mathews, by the way).For someone who makes the game look so easy, this is no insignificant body of work.

Pitches like the one in Dhaka maximise Bangladesh’s strengths and enable them to push for WTC points, but what does it do to their fast bowlers?

Mohammad Isam06-Dec-2023After the first day’s play in Dhaka, where spinners took 13 of the 15 wickets that fell, a familiar question hangs in the air: how much home advantage is too much home advantage?The Shere Bangla National Stadium is the home of Bangladesh cricket for a reason. It houses the cricket board, and it is also the venue the senior team banks on for big wins. It is at this stadium that Bangladesh built their reputation of being a highly competitive team, but it is also, perhaps, one reason for Bangladesh not being quite as good when they play on flatter surfaces anywhere else in the world.Related

Rain washes out day two in Mirpur

Why Mushfiqur Rahim was out for obstructing the field and not handling the ball

Mehidy and Taijul put New Zealand under pressure after Bangladesh fold for 172

The debate rages on: are Bangladesh just maximizing their strengths? The question, though, could be worded differently: do Bangladesh feel that their spinners are their only strength? They may have reason to feel this at present, given that their two best fast bowlers are out with long-term injuries, and also because their batters have endured a difficult year, particularly at the World Cup.At that very World Cup, though, a number of Bangladesh’s players spoke about the need for preparing truer pitches for home games. Some of the difficulties Bangladesh faced in India stemmed from their inability to adjust to good batting pitches. A team that usually play ODIs that produce totals in the 240-260 range can’t really be expected to thrive on pitches where 300-plus totals are par.What Bangladesh did in Dhaka was something of a reversion. Having beaten New Zealand comprehensively on a decent though slow batting surface in Sylhet, they went back to the Dhaka norm: a square turner. Head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe had been dropping hints that this could happen even during the build-up to the series, stressing on Bangladesh’s need for home wins in this World Test Championship cycle. It was a strong direction of the direction they want to take in Test cricket.Bangladesh and Hathurusinghe aren’t alone in this. India coach Rahul Dravid has similarly reasoned that the pressure of needing to maximise WTC points has led teams to prepare more result-oriented pitches.Day one in Dhaka was reminiscent of Hathurusinghe’s 2016 blueprint of raging turners at home. Bangladesh pulled off Test wins against England and Australia in Dhaka that season, but after the team lost to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and West Indies between 2018 and 2021, the template came under criticism for being too one-dimensional. Russell Domingo, who coached Bangladesh from 2019 to 2022, oversaw a change to more sporting pitches in some series.Hathurusinghe, interestingly, was in charge when Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 546 runs in June, on a rare fast bowlers’ pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. That pitch, though, was prepared keeping in mind Afghanistan’s perceived weakness against short bowling. It was also a non-WTC game, so they could take that chance.Spinners took 13 of the 15 wickets that fell on day one of the Dhaka Test•AFP via Getty ImagesAfter Wednesday’s play against New Zealand, spin-bowling allrounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz said Bangladesh would have to maximise home advantage especially when WTC points are involved. This pitch, he suggested, wasn’t impossible to bat on, particularly once the ball was more than 30 overs old.”Sylhet had a slow pitch with some help for batters at first, and then for spinners,” Mehidy said. “We are habituated with the Mirpur wicket. Whenever we play abroad, those teams take home advantage. We try to take it in Test cricket. If we can get these points in the WTC, we will be in a better position in the points table.”It is slightly challenging for batters, but if they are committed to their shots, they can play. Batters have to take these responsibilities. The first 30 overs are challenging, but when the ball gets old, it gives the batters an opportunity. The ball doesn’t do much when it gets old on this surface.”Mehidy, who took three wickets to help reduce New Zealand to 55 for 5 after Bangladesh were bowled out for 172, said he had tried to keep things simple. While speaking about the wicket of Kane Williamson, who was caught at short leg off a ball that turned and bounced sharply, Mehidy stressed on the importance of planting doubt in the batter’s mind.”It is important to keep things simple for bowlers,” he said. “I tried to turn the ball in the first few overs. I tried to keep my spot knowing that the pitch will play its part.”I didn’t try anything big, but I just tried to confuse him [Williamson]. A confused batter is bound to make mistakes on this pitch. I wanted him to think which way to play against me. I tried to keep him under pressure. This dilemma often produces a wicket.”Mehidy made a distinction between red- and white-ball cricket when asked whether Bangladesh need to play on better batting surfaces at home.”Players try to adjust to the conditions whether it’s a good wicket or not,” he said. “I think we can take these advantages in Tests, but we probably should play on better wickets in white-ball cricket.”But look, if we can’t bowl them out, it is hard for us to win. We usually bowl sides out after conceding a lot of runs in overseas Tests. I think it will take time for things to change.”Shoriful Islam has been Bangladesh’s lone seamer in both Sylhet and Dhaka•AFP/Getty ImagesWhat this template does to fast bowlers could be a big question going forward. Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson bowled only 9.2 overs between them in Bangladesh’s first innings, but they know it’s a one-off for them. They will mostly play in conditions that aid fast bowling in some form. But for it’s a cause for concern for Shoriful Islam, or Bangladesh’s wider fast-bowling group.Shoriful was Bangladesh’s lone seamer in both Sylhet and Dhaka. He will go to New Zealand from here, where he has to bank on the memory of bowling on helpful conditions. Others like Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman and Tanzim Hasan will go underprepared, without having built up a Test-match workload in the home season. In the past, the adjustment between minimal bowling in home Tests and shouldering a major burden overseas has cost Bangladesh’s fast bowlers.New Zealand hasn’t said anything negative about the nature of the pitch, but that may be because their one press conference in this Test match so far involved a spinner, Mitchell Santner, who was playing his first Test in two-and-a-half years. Santner took 3 for 65 as the New Zealand spinners picked up eight of the ten Bangladesh wickets.”That’s the challenge when we come over to this part of the world,” he said. “It does spin, and that’s cool. It’s good for us to come in and challenge ourselves on these kind of wickets, because when we go back home, we make green ones that can nip around.”We know how good Bangladesh are at home, and they’re very tough to beat in these conditions, and they showed in the first Test the blueprint of how to go about their work on these kind of surfaces.”If the unseasonal rain stays away from Dhaka, the second day could be decisive, and the match could be over on the third day. Either way, the Dhaka Test is unlikely to see a turnaround for batters, with the pitch only expected to get harder to bat on. It could put the venue under the match officials’ radar too. The Shere Bangla National Stadium has incurred demerit points in the past.Ultimately, the merits and demerits of a one-sided pitch are felt by the home side’s decision-makers. If there is an advantage to be had, they will take it. Bangladesh aren’t going to complain about Dhaka pitch – at least not until they see a flat one or a green one somewhere else in the world.