Bangladesh's senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin feels that the hosts paid the price of over-excitement on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Mirpur produced a green-top wicket that prompted the Bangladeshi pace trio - Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana and Ebadot Hossain - to try their luck with the short ball. Bangladesh failed to learn from Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas, who took five wickets to bundle out the hosts for 413 in their first innings with his gentle medium pace.
Nahid started his spell hitting Pakistan debutant opener Azan Awais on the helmet with a quick bouncer but finished the day with an economy rate of over five. Senior pacer Taskin also went at five runs per over while Ebadot went at 4.75 - a sign of erratic bowling throughout the day's play.
"It's mostly a mental thing, When bowlers see grass on the wicket, they tend to get excited. I think that's where we made the mistake," Salahuddin told reporters after the day's play.
"It was very important for us to maintain good areas, and maybe that's where we went wrong," he said.
"Mentally, when any fast bowler sees grass on the wicket, there's always excitement. When there's movement and the ball is carrying quickly, bowlers start thinking they can beat batters with pace. I think compared to Pakistan, our speed and pace were a bit too much. Bowling in the right areas was more important. We think we made a lot of mistakes today, and we're working to make sure those mistakes don't happen tomorrow," he added.
Salahuddin said that the hosts needed to improve their slip catching considering that they have dropped catches more often than not in that area.
On the second day, Mahmudul Hasan Joy dropped Imam-ul-Haq while Shadman Islam failed to hold onto a chance from Abdullah Fazal in the cordon.
"We definitely need improvement in some areas, especially slip catching," said Salahuddin.
"Because it's a specialized position. We'll discuss how we can improve in that area," he said.
Salahuddin added that they were 50 to 60 runs short but insisted that they are optimistic that still there was a lot of time to make a comeback.
"Pakistan actually bowled very well in the morning. It was very difficult for us to build partnerships. From there, I think if we could have had another good partnership, it would have been better for us. But at the end of the day, we still crossed 400 runs. I think if we had added another 50-60 runs, it would have been much better for us," said Salahuddin.
"Since this is Test cricket, there's always a chance to come back. Today we will reassess where exactly we need to bowl on this wicket and which areas will trouble the batters more. I think we can make a strong comeback tomorrow," he said.
"On this wicket, I think there's still a lot for the bowlers, especially the fast bowlers. As we said, we didn't bowl well for one session today, and that's visible. Everyone can see we didn't bowl well. Fixing that is very possible, and we have to do it quickly because our fast bowlers have always won us matches, and they are experienced. I think they'll do well tomorrow," he added.
