I feel sorry for bowlers of both teams: Sujon
Sujon said, "The pitch was absolutely flat. There was nothing for the bowlers. But I think it will be different in the next match."
Former national team skipper and coach Khaled Mahmud Sujon has been sent to Sri Lanka as the team leader by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). The former captain said that he felt sorry for the bowlers of both teams as the pitch in the first match offered absolutely nothing.
Sujon said, "The pitch was absolutely flat. There was nothing for the bowlers. But I think it will be different in the next match. We will go to the ground tomorrow and then get to know what kind of pitch they are preparing. Test cricket is a game of 20 wickets. I feel really sorry for the bowlers of both teams. The pace attack of Sri Lanka couldn't pick up many wickets too despite being more experienced than that of ours. But I think the wicket in the next match will be different."
He said that the players were confident after amassing a mammoth total but the pitch was too docile. "Obviously when (Najmul Hossain) Shanto and Mominul (Haque) were batting, we thought we had a chance to win the match. When we made 541, we were confident that a positive result would be possible if we could take a substantial lead and the pitch offered assistance to the spinners. But none of them happened," he said.
Sujon lauded Tamim Iqbal for his aggressive batting and also praised Najmul Hossain Shanto for his magnificent effort with the bat. "Tamim's performance in this Test match was outstanding. Especial the first innings completely change the atmosphere of the dressing room. Also, credit to Shanto for the way he performed. One innings is a very small sample size but I hope the team carries their form to the next Test match here and in Zimbabwe later. If we can earn draws like this and play consistently for a year, then we will learn how to win matches. Taskin (Ahmed) was superb, so was Ebadot (Hossain). It was not easy to bowl fast in such conditions but they did it. Credit goes to them."
The former captain believes that this team has the potential to do well in Tests. "We were under a lot of pressure, having lost the home series against West Indies. There were so many question marks. But I am happy with the performance and the effort that the boys put in. Yes, we could've done better. But we need time. I think this group of players have the ability to perform for a longer period of time," he remarked.
