Mominul seeks Fahim's assistance to snap lean batting streak

Bangladesh's test captain Mominul HaqueFile Photo

Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque has sought the assistance of veteran coach Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, former head coach of Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP), to snap the bad patch, which has been persistent for sometimes now, reports BSS.

Mominul’s lean batting streak was extended to seventh straight single digit figure when he failed to get past more than 9 runs in the three innings against Sri Lanka recently.

If the last 15 innings is taken into consideration, he scored over 10 runs for just three times. Such a lean batting form also affected his captaincy as he failed to show any innovation on the field when Bangladesh were put in to pressurised situation.

The call to strip him off the captaincy also raised high recently, forcing the BCB high ups to consider the matter seriously.

After the Sri Lanka series, BCB president Nazmul Hassan hinted that Mominul would have to choose one between captaincy and batting. He also said that he would talk to Mominul personally in this regard.

Bangladesh's Mominul Haque walks back to the pavilion after his dismissal by South Africa's Wiaan Mulder (not seen) during the second day of the second Test cricket match between South Africa and Bangladesh at St George's Park in Gqeberha on 9 April, 2022
AFP file photo

BCB cricket operations chairman Jalal Younus also reiterated the BCB president saying, “I think the responsibility of captaincy has put an additional pressure on him."

"The president went to India to watch the IPL final. He will talk to him after he gets back to the country."

But Mominul appeared to be in good shape, Fahim said after working with Mominul on Monday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

He also expected that Mominul will get back to runs in Bangladesh's upcoming series against West Indies.

"Since he hasn't runs to show, people are talking about his captaincy. It's normal. And he is in pressure because as a captain he had to face the volley of questions," Fahim said.

The top cricketers of the country basically sought the assistance of Fahim and Salahuddin when they are out of form.

Of late Mushfiqur Rahim worked with Fahim ahead of the Sri Lanka series as he went through a serious bad patch.

But working with Fahim for a couple of days worked as a wonder as Mushfiqur hit back-to-back centuries in Sri Lanka series to regain his form.

"The problem lies in Mominul's basic. I think he failed to do the basic things while batting," Fahim observed.

"He has been in bad patch for a long time. In this situation, batters tend to do something extra to regain form, which made the things worse further. Mominul is no exception," Fahim said, adding that "He lost his basics after trying to do something extra. So we again worked with the basic things. He is looking fine now. I think working with him two days more will bring him back in previous position."

But whether Mominul can go in West Indies as a captain of the Test team, will be decided after his meeting his BCB president.