Zimbabwe win gives confidence for Pakistan Test: Mominul

I failed as a captain in my first few Test matches, but I'm trying to learn from my mistakes and looking forward to the upcoming days: Mominul © AFP

Bangladesh Test skipper Mominul Haque, on Tuesday (February 25), said that their win against Zimbabwe will give them confidence ahead of their second Test against Pakistan in Karachi on April 5. Bangladesh ended their six-match losing streak in Tests with a resounding innings and 106-run victory against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test in Dhaka.

"'Winning a match always rise up the faith in the team. So I think this winning will help us in the Pakistan Test match as well," Mominul said.

''I don't know if you see me under pressure. But I didn't feel the pressure (of captaining the side) throughout the match. I failed as a captain in (my) first (few) Test matches, but I'm trying to learn from my mistakes and looking forward to the upcoming days,'' he told reporters, who oversaw innings defeats in the previous three Test matches where he led the side.

Mominul also noted that Bangladesh are moving in the right direction. To rectify their problems away from home, Bangladesh are looking to prepare tracks that offer more assistance for the pacers. ''I want us to play good cricket at home and away. So, what I have to do is to use pace bowlers. If they don't bowl regularly, they will not understand how to bowl in away conditions,'' said Mominul. ''I think that in National League or BCL (Bangladesh Cricket League) matches, the pitches are going to be the same as we played in (this) Test," he added.

He also observed that the Bangladesh think-tank is giving the pace duo of Abu Jayed and Ebadot Hossain a good run in the side to help them gain experience. ''You can see from the last New Zealand series Rahi (Abu Jayed) and Ebadot are playing Test matches regularly. The more they play, they will gain more experience,"' he said.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine rued the fact that they didn't get enough runs on the board in the first innings. ''Batting first, we should have got at least 400. The wicket was good enough to post a score like that. Getting bowled out for 265 put us on the back foot and allowed Bangladesh to go past us. We could have also batted better in the second innings. The wicket wasn't really that bad. I thought our bowlers worked hard to get those six wickets. Obviously, didn't hit the right areas enough, but I just thought that our batting let us down,'' said Ervine.