The wicket looked quite slow: Steve Smith

The Australian cricket team’s skipper Steven Smith has finally got some idea regarding the pitch that will be used for the 1st Test match against Bangladesh, starting tomorrow (August 27th). The visitors didn’t have much clue about the nature of the pitch until a day before the Test. Smith thinks that the wicket will be slow. Yesterday, two of the tracks at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium was kept uncovered during Australia’s practice, but the visitors had to play a guessing game, as they had no hint about the one that would be used for the game.

Interestingly, Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon met the Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha, probably to get some insight views on the nature of the track and more but the latter didn’t really mention much. Hathurusingha was earlier the coach at New South Wales. “We had a look at the wicket. It looked quite slow, will turn as time progresses. We are not surprised really. We have to cope quickly with what we are given. I hope we can do well in the first Test,” Smith said at the press conference.

Rahim keeping the cards close to his chest

Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim too, sounded unsure and said that it is a tough job to read the Mirpur pitch. “Actually reading Mirpur’s wicket is tough. The weather and conditions are different. Although we had the opportunity to practice, predicting the wicket is still difficult,” the Bangladesh’ captain said. “The nature of the wickets keeps shifting all the time in this kind of weather. Often there is no sunshine the whole day, and then there is some. It’s not easy,” he added.

Rahim kept the cards close to his chest and added that the pitch will be same for both the sides, therefore how we play matters. “Regardless of how the wicket is, it will be same for both the teams. How much dedication we show is what matters more than the conditions. No matter how much the conditions favour you, if you can’t perform well nothing will [bring good result],” he added.