Bangladeshi Mominul: "You can't shut up anyone, but you can shut your own ears"

Mominul Haque has the monumental task of transforming Bangladesh's mood in and outside the locker room. There has been an air of negativity in the team for the past two months. Nine defeats, heated press conferences and public criticism at the T20 World Cup were followed by a siege mentality during the T20I series against Pakistan in Dhaka.

Everything from the cricket team, the board of directors and the general structure and culture of cricket in Bangladesh has been called into question.

On the eve of the first Test against Pakistan, Mominul urged his team to stop worrying about what was being said and do what they should do by bringing the focus back to cricket.

"This is not the first time that Bangladesh has gone through such a phase," said Mominul. “We have survived such situations before. People get mentally weak because they take outside talk seriously. My job is to regain focus from thinking about what everyone is saying and focus on our job. We have to support each other. Can't shut up anyone, but I think you can turn a blind eye to your own ears. "

But the task at hand - playing a friendly against Pakistan - is doubly difficult for Bangladesh as big names like Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal have been prevented by injuries while Mahmudullah has resigned from the tests. Taskin Ahmed, who showed good form on his test comeback, is also out with a finger injury sustained during the third T20I in Dhaka.

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"I don't want to call it a difficult challenge. 'Difficult' has a negative meaning. I don't want to see it negatively. Tamim Bhai gives us good starts that we often capitalize on. Shakib is two players in a" Taskin is last Time to bowl well.

"We're practically four players short. That makes my captaincy a little more difficult, but Mushfiq Bhai and I have to take on the additional responsibility."

Mominul wants to focus on those on the roster including Abu Jayed, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam, a bowling trio that carried most of the attack. "Mustafizur (Rahman) hasn't played a test for a long time. Both Taskin (Ahmed) and Shoriful (Islam) are unfortunately injured. But we have to think of those who are in the squad."

"(Abu Jayed) Rahi was our lead wicket taker at the World Test Championship. Ebadot also plays tests regularly. We also have (Mehidy Hasan) Miraz and Taijul (Islam). I have faith in my bowlers. I think if we do Bowling fine, we can take 20 wickets in this game, "he said.

Mominul also expects Liton Das to recover from its T20I downturn that cost him his spot on the Pakistan series last week. “There's a big difference between tests and T20Is. If we keep mentioning T20s it gets difficult for me. I think Liton got over the (mental aspect) of it.

"Er hat in den letzten 12 Monaten durchschnittlich 45-50 in Tests gemacht. Ich denke, er kann gut damit umgehen. Er hatte eine mentale Pause. Jeder unterstützt ihn."

Mominul sagte, dass die nächsten Testreihen in Bangladesch einen Blick in ihre Testzukunft bieten werden. Sie waren fast den gesamten WTC-Zyklus 2019-21 ohne Shakib, obwohl Tamim und Mushfiqur stark involviert waren. Auch Mahmudullahs Testkapitel ist zu Ende gegangen, was bedeutet, dass Bangladesch nun gezwungen ist, für diese freien Plätze über jüngere Cricketspieler nachzudenken.

"Alle wollen Ergebnisse. Nicht nur ich. Ich denke, es ist eine gute Gelegenheit für die Jugendlichen. Sie werden sich ein Bild von der Richtung machen, die unser Testteam in dieser und einigen zukünftigen Serien einschlägt. Wir haben definitiv langfristige Pläne." in Tests. Wir wollen langsam aufbauen, und in ein oder zwei Serien werden wir wissen, wo unser Testteam steht."