Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo said on Sunday that their batting unit is low on confidence.
Bangladesh is staring at a defeat as West Indies concluded the day on the driving seat needing 35 runs to win the opening Test. Bangladesh were bundled out for 103 runs in the first innings and from then onwards the game started to slip from their grasp. The tourists also failed to capitalize in their second innings as they were 109-6 at one stage before Shakib al Hasan and Nurul Hasan added 123 runs for seventh-wicket stand to help earn a slim lead.
“It’s not good. In both innings too many soft dismissals and too many poor decisions with the batting and 103 runs in the first innings....could have gotten more than that and 245 in the second innings could have gotten more than that so it's the bottom line. Too many soft dismissals in this particular Test match,” Domingo told reporters after the third day’s play.
“Batters are all low on confidence at the moment. Some of the big players Mominul, Shanto are low in confidence. In cricket, confidence is a big thing and at the moment they just don’t have that confidence in their batting,” he said.
Domingo added that though Shakib batted well in both innings he needs to make a balance between his attack and defense considering he is capable of getting Test hundreds. Shakib made 51 in the first innings while scoring 63 runs in the second innings before getting out playing a poor shot against Kemar Roach.
In both the innings Shakib played with aggression and according to Domingo it was due to transferring the pressure to the bowling unit.
“Look Shakib is always going to play with good intent and we don’t want him to slog but play good cricket shots. I suppose he just wants to transfer just a little bit of pressure back on the bowlers but he is aware that once he gets through that initial stage he’s going to bat properly,” said Domingo.
“He is good enough to get a hundred and he’s got to get hundreds, he is batting at number seven at the moment but surely he will bat at number six and top six batters got to get hundreds. So he’s got to find that balance between attack and defense. Sometimes you got to counter-attack and there is no doubt about that but just make sure that he keeps his shape, keeps his position and keeps his head still because he is a quality batter and he showed it today,” he said.
Domingo said that he is happy with the performance of the bowling unit while adding that though Khaled Ahmed picked three quick wickets still he need to have lot of improvement.
“Bowled fantastically in both innings and to keep them on 260 on that pitch is a fantastic effort. Very proud of bowlers' effort in these last couple of days,” said Domingo.
“He [Khaled] bowled nicely in the second innings and picked up a few good wickets but still got a lot of improving to do and there is no doubt about that,” he added.
