Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah said the Chittagong pitch was good and sporting enough while replying to the Sri Lanka camp, who expressed disappointment with the wicket and rated it poor for Test match cricket.
The Tigers batsmen batted well on the fifth day and lost only two wickets in more than 73 overs to secure a draw.
During the post-match press conference, Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne termed the pitch at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Cricket Stadium as “not good for Test cricket” as more than 1500 runs were scored by the two teams. But Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah believes the wicket was good enough for Test cricket.
“Pitches in Chittagong normally start out with some turn and then improves as the game progresses. I think the wicket was really good from the first to the fifth day. I didn’t expect it to be this good. I thought it might start turning from the second or third day, or the fourth or fifth. With that said, I think everyone had to work hard to score runs,” said Mahmudullah to the media in the port city Sunday.
“I think batsmen from both sides did well. I don’t know how he (Karunaratne) said it wasn’t a good wicket for Test cricket. I think we have to ask him what type of wicket he wants. Test match is always hard – whether the pitch is batting-, spin- or pace-friendly. Batsmen from both sides dominated the game. The run rate was quite good. I think it was a good wicket,” he explained.
Mahmudullah informed that they were confident ahead of a challenging day five and planned on playing positive cricket. The skipper also praised No 3 batsman Mominul Haque and wicketkeeper-batsman Liton Das for their brilliant partnership.
“We lost three wickets in the last session on the fourth day, the only plan was to keep the faith and pride in playing for Bangladesh. Our actions should speak for it. It was a fighting effort from Mominul and Liton. I really liked how they overcame the challenge,” said Mahmudullah.
“The team talk was to stay positive, not to get bogged down. The wicket was quite good. Mominul and Liton worked hard for a long time, because of which we got the result. The credit goes to them. There was more chance of us losing the game because of how it was last evening. But it was important to have the belief. We have the skills, and we needed a big partnership,” he said.
The Tigers captain also termed Mominul a big hearted player, who became the first Bangladeshi to score centuries in both innings of a Test.
“He is of small size, but he does big deeds. He is a big hearted guy. I wish he performs better in the future,” the 32-year old concluded.
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