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Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:48 am
by Kriterion_BD
jaybro wrote:
Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:09 pm


Also shows the ICC Test championship is wrong, either Afghanistan, Zimbabwe & Ireland should have been included or Bangladesh should have been left out also, they’ve now lost at home to Zimbabwe & Afghanistan inside the last 12 months.
The original plan was to leave out Bangladesh, Windies, and Sri Lanka (ie top 6 only) but those smaller 3 boards opposed the plan. Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia 3-0, BD drew a series in Sri Lanka, and WI won Tests in England and UAE.

If the Afghans get another big scalp, which they will if they play Windies or South Africa on a turning wicket, they might get added to the WTC.

Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:52 am
by Kriterion_BD
There is only one way Bangladesh can successfully spin this Test loss as an anomaly. They have to push India hard in at least one of the Tests in November. And by hard I mean one of the following:

- win the game (not happening in all likelhood)
- draw the game (10% chance)

The real marker will be if all 4 results are roughly equally likely after day 3. Or take the game past tea on day 5.

Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:01 pm
by Kriterion_BD
Just saw a short video podcast about this result, it it made some goods points, which I will summarize here:

1) The defeat of a team with 20 years of Test experience by one with 2 matches experience was the litmus test of BD cricket's progress.
2) The blame rests with 3 groups of people: the BCB, the players, and the fans. The BCB's management is always short sighted, the players' execution was poor, and the fans' unrelenting adulation means that neither the BCB nor the players have to change anything.
3) Yes, Bangladesh has beaten teams like Australia and England, but if you play for 20 years, you will get a few fluke wins here and there.

I don't necessarily agree with everything that was said, but its an important discussion to have if BD cricket wants to avoid such things in the future.

Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2019 5:46 am
by jaybro
My thoughts with Bangladesh is that they’re better suited to ODI cricket compared to Test cricket because they don’t have any players who you’d put in the top bracket of players. Yes Mushy, Shakib & Tamin are world class players, but they’re not in the same boat as Smith, Kohli & Williamson and probably not even in the next bracket too be fair. Yes they’re good players but they’re not consistent enough.

Same with their bowlers, as I’ve said their seamers are shite & their spinners are decent but mainly rely on favourable home decks. Now compared to Afghanistan who have Rashid Khan who is undoubtedly world class, he’s able to take wickets on any deck and is even more formidable on a tiring sub continent pitch.

Winning the toss and batting is always a huge advantage, even more so in Asia and even more so again when you have Rashid in your side. Once they put a good first innings total on the board it was always going to be tough for Bangladesh to win, then when they capitulated in their 1st innings the match was done & dusted.

Afghanistan will beat a lot of sides in Tests batting first as long as Rashid is there, and sadly for Bangladesh they don’t have a bowler like him.

Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2019 6:04 am
by Kriterion_BD
jaybro wrote:
Sun Sep 15, 2019 5:46 am
My thoughts with Bangladesh is that they’re better suited to ODI cricket compared to Test cricket because they don’t have any players who you’d put in the top bracket of players. Yes Mushy, Shakib & Tamin are world class players, but they’re not in the same boat as Smith, Kohli & Williamson and probably not even in the next bracket too be fair. Yes they’re good players but they’re not consistent enough.

Same with their bowlers, as I’ve said their seamers are shite & their spinners are decent but mainly rely on favourable home decks. Now compared to Afghanistan who have Rashid Khan who is undoubtedly world class, he’s able to take wickets on any deck and is even more formidable on a tiring sub continent pitch.

Winning the toss and batting is always a huge advantage, even more so in Asia and even more so again when you have Rashid in your side. Once they put a good first innings total on the board it was always going to be tough for Bangladesh to win, then when they capitulated in their 1st innings the match was done & dusted.
All of that is pretty much true.

For Bangladesh, their goal should be to be as good as Pakistan given the similarities the two countries share (population size, economics and finances). Pakistan has recently restructured their entire domestic system, the BCB should heavily consider something like that. The current system is not really efficient. Any talent that comes up (Mosaddek, Nayeem, Afif) is there simply due to the law of averages, with hundreds of thousands of players in the country, a handful will eventually become quite decent players.

The realistic best goal for BD is to be a 5th or 6th ranked side regardless of the format. They simply don't have the talent, management, or good governance to rise beyond that, and thats OK. India has only been a certain top 3/4 side in the last 15-20 years, and that happened with lots of money, and strong governance by the BCCI. Teams like Pakistan and Bangladesh have neither of those, at least not to India's extent.

Batsmen like Steve Smith (Tests) and Virat Kohli (ODIs, so long as it isn't a knockout match) can't be produced. They are simply born like Tendulkar, Lara, etc. But I do believe any nation can produce batsmen of the calibre of Kane Williamson or Joe Root. They are 1/3 God-given talent, 1/3 self discipline and relentless work ethic, and 1/3 good management by their cricket boards. All the Asian sides, barring India are almost certain to be lacking the last bit to varying degrees.
Afghanistan will beat a lot of sides in Tests batting first as long as Rashid is there, and sadly for Bangladesh they don’t have a bowler like him.
Bangladesh being a limited Test side, should have made an absolute flat wicket. Afghanistan would have been bundled out for 350 and 250 even on a highway (we can assume this because Afghanistan were bowled for 342 and 260 in conditions where none of the BD spinners got much turn, barring Nayeem who got turn and bounce (still not extravagant), but was underbowled). On the other hand, the Afghan wristspinners got a lot more from the wicket, which is obvious because the BD spinners are all finger spinners. You cannot assume you will win the toss and bat first as your strategy.

The same thing happened in Sylhet vs ZIM. BD has to assume the toss can be lost, and you have to back your strength to bat in conditions where the ball does nothing.

Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2019 7:02 am
by jaybro
It’s not really my strategy, it’s just the way it is in test cricket & especially in Asia, bat first your chances of winning go up and if you put up a good first innings total you pretty much eliminate the chance of losing.

You can’t really plan for losing the toss.

Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 5:14 am
by Kriterion_BD
I wonder if it was always like that (batting first advantage) in Asia...???

Need to look at statsguru...

Re: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan | Only Test | Chattogram

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:44 am
by jaybro
Kriterion_BD wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 5:14 am
I wonder if it was always like that (batting first advantage) in Asia...???

Need to look at statsguru...
You’d think so, dry pitches with no grass will always get worse to bat on. To be fair most pitches are seen as ‘bat first’ decks, only pitches that have a lot of grass and moisture can be seen as bowl first decks, as they don’t have enough time to deteriorate under the sun to point where they break up.