'It's possible to score big here'

Among all the Bangladesh batsmen, Imrul Kayes had the heaviest cloud hanging over him when the national squad landed in South Africa for a two-Test series against the second-ranked team in Test cricket. The left-hander had scored just 21 runs in four innings in the home series against Australia in August-September, albeit while batting at the unfamiliar number three spot.

When naming the squad for the tour, chief selector Minhajul Abedin however said that as he is adept at playing the ball square of the wicket, Imrul was considered for the demanding tour on fast, bouncy pitches. That faith seems to be well-founded so far as he scored 34 and 51 in the tour match at Benoni.

“Actually, whenever you score, you can get confidence,” said the 30-year-old to reporters after the team's practice at Senwes Park yesterday. “It does not matter whether I score at home or here. Runs always give you confidence.”

Imrul has been the nearly man of Bangladesh cricket. He has had big moments, such as hitting 150 in a Bangladesh record 312-run opening stand with Tamim Iqbal against Pakistan in Khulna 2015. But he has not often been able to hold on to that spot, as a Test total of 30 in almost nine years and an average of 26.55 explains. But it was playing the kind of cricket required now that Imrul made his latest comeback to the side when, batting in the warm-up one-dayer against England in 2016 he hit a hundred and followed that up with another century in the first ODI just under a year ago.

He had then credited coach Chandika Hathurusingha for instructing him to be ever-ready to pull out the cut and pull against the English pacers. More of that will be needed here. He is also one of the three batsmen, along with Tamim and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, to have played in South Africa on the 2008 tour.

“I think in Bangladesh batsmen tend to play on the front foot more but here the ball will be back of a length more,” said Imrul. “We are practising leaving the ball and playing off the back foot. The cut and pull are important scoring shots here -- we have to become strong in these shots.”

All the talk has been about the pace and bounce here, but Imrul preferred to look at those factors as advantages.

“Obviously there will be more pace and bounce here. But I believe bounce and pace means the ball comes on to the bat nicely. If a batsman is good at playing shots square of the wicket then it is possible scoring big runs here,” he added. “If we maintain the momentum with which our batsmen have been batting, of course we can challenge South Africa.”

He was, however, under no illusions as to the difficulty of the task in hand. “I believe not only us, any country in the world would rate a South Africa tour the toughest. Similarly when South Africa goes to our country our conditions might be considered toughest to them. Home advantage always plays a part for everyone.”

Source: thedailystar