'We play two matches in a series' - Zakir Hasan addresses Bangladesh's batting conundrum in Tests

Bangladesh have been displaying underwhelming performance at the ICC events and the team’s performance in Tests is not good either. They have played just four Tests in the last year and have tasted defeat in three, winning just one. They will be touring India for two Tests in September and their Test opener, Zakir Hasan, has opined on Bangladesh’s shortcomings in the longest format. 

The Tigers have faced immense criticism for playing some reckless shots in Tests for some time now. During the series against Sri Lanka in March, they underwent a fourth consecutive batting collapse, registering totals below the 200-run mark. Hasan pointed out that the conventional form of Test cricket will bear the results and the team cannot follow England’s ‘Bazball’ approach, given they play fewer matches in a series.  

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“As a cricketer for me, more than playing a beautiful shot, it matters how I serve the team with my performance. As you said about playing for a long time in Tests, maybe England plays one way. But ultimately if you do analysis, all over the world the way other teams play Tests, the batters take time to score runs, and I think that's Ideal. Look, England have the opportunity to adapt to Bazball cricket because they play four matches in a single series,” said Hasan as quoted by Cricbuzz.

“So they have the option to implement something new and see if they can get success. We don't have that opportunity. We play two matches in a series. And then we play after one, two or three months. So I think we have less opportunity compared to them (England) to implement in an international match. But if you notice the way overall cricket is being played, if we play cricket in that manner, that will also be good for us,” he added.

Bazball cricket can also be a strategy: Hasan

Hasan highlighted that Bangladesh get to play less than four matches in a Test series unlike England, but he turned away from pointing that out as a concern. Moreover, Bangladesh will play two Tests against India and Pakistan in their upcoming red-ball outings. Hasan, while earlier talking about the privilege of not having four games in a series, rather brought up the strategy aspect as he likened it to what the coach thinks about it.

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“Maybe. What you just said is also a strategy... there are different strategies. It might happen that a team has two players who will have the role to tire the bowlers and play for a long time. That is also a strategy. Bazball cricket can also be a strategy - that we will score lots of runs in less time and take the match as early as we can. It's all about strategy. Now, if you see, the coach has his own plan and he will give his plan to us, and we players have to trust that plan and implement it accordingly,” he added.