Shakib wants Bangladesh to ace first two hours while batting and bowling

Bangladesh Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan wants his batters and bowlers to be at their absolute best in the first two hours of each innings when they take on West Indies in the second and final Test in St Lucia, starting Friday (June 24). The visitors were hammered by seven wickets in the first Test and will have to put up a much better performance if they want to level the series. 

In Antigua, the Tigers’ batting in the first innings lasted just five hours, fifteen minutes. They then allowed West Indies to take a massive lead of 162 and would have lost the game by an innings if not for Shakib and Nurul Hasan's 123-run stand in the second essay.

Bangladesh have the worst batting average (23.95) since 2022 and it's largely because of their top-order. In 10 of their last 16 innings, Bangladesh have lost four wickets inside 50 runs. They have struggled big time against pace. 

"We can only focus on the first two hours of tomorrow's match and we have to do well at that point of time whether we are bowling or batting and later we can play according to the match situation," said Shakib ahead of the second Test.

"The opening day we will have a better wicket than Antigua to bat. I think there will be pace and bounce but there won't be sideways movement but until we are playing it is hard to say how the wicket will behave. When we start the innings after 15 to 20 minutes we can say how the wicket will behave.

"We are aware (that the wicket will be skiddy and bouncy) and in this kind of wicket naturally more runs are scored and the game moves quite fast and there is a chance to score quickly. 

"I think the horizontal bat shots will be more effective and we have a net session today and we hope to adapt with it and we see similar wickets in New Zealand and in other countries and as our cricketers are habituated to playing in these kinds of wickets I don't feel we will have a problem."

Since the beginning of the 2021-23 WTC cycle, they have the worst balls per wicket against pace (42.3). They have lost 106 wickets to pacers in 17 innings, 65% of their dismissals. Only England and India have lost more wickets to pacers, but those two have batted more than 20 innings.

"If you look at the last three Tests, then you can say that (there is weakness against pace). If you see the two Tests before that, you will say it's spin. We always fail to stay in the wicket in difficult conditions. This is an opportunity and a challenge and let's see how we can overcome it."