5 reasons Bangladesh is mighty at home
With a sensational victory in the first Test against Australia, Bangladesh has stamped their dominance in home Tests. The Asian nation has already won a Test against England and in the previous year registered ODI series wins against strong teams like India and South Africa.
The phenomenal rise of Bangladesh has stirred the cricket world. Their performance in ODI cricket has improved leaps and bounds but in Test cricket and that too especially in home Tests, they have become a formidable unit. And with their recent successes, they have proved that they can challenge any top team in their backyard.
But what has made Bangladesh a power house in home conditions? How did the team that sits at the bottom of the ICC rankings torment the top teams in world cricket? Here are the answers.
#5. Focus on spin-friendly pitches
In the last five years, spin has become a major threat for non-Asian nations. There are hardly any world class spin bowlers in countries like South Africa, England, and Australia. The limits of Nathan Lyon and Imran Tahir for example, are well-known, and the spinners have struggled to exploit sub-continent conditions.
In the batting department too, apart from Steve Smith or Joe Root, batsmen have found it difficult to negotiate the threat of spin bowling. T20 cricket has forced batsmen to play with hard hands which is not the ideal way to deal with spin bowling and the temperament too is lacking.
Anticipating these weakness, Asian teams have now focused on making their pitches spin-friendly. India has benefited immensely from this approach and has pulverized all visiting teams with this spin friendly strategy.
Bangladesh too has joined the bandwagon and started preparing pitches that turn from day one and provide plenty of assistance for the spinners. In the Test series against England, all but one English wicket fell to spin and that reveals the trend as well as the strategy of Bangladesh.