Bowling on this flat track is a new experience for me: Taskin

Young Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed today said that on a flat track like the one on offer here, a bowler needs to adopt a patient approach and wait for the batsmen to make mistakes.

"Actually on this kind of wicket, bowlers have to be patient. You can't bowl too many loose deliveries as batsmen find it easy. Bowlers have to be patient. Only if the batsman makes mistakes, then you can get out," Taskin said after the opening day of the one-off Test against India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Taskin conceded that lack of experience became their undoing against a formidable batting line-up like India.
 

"It was a new experience for me because I am playing only my third Test and against India, it's my first Test. It was new experience bowling on a flat wicket. The first hour, it was moving a bit but after that it was a dry and flat. Another thing is that their batsmen also batted well," he said.

Taskin's new ball partner Kamrul Islam Rabbi was bowling too short and being pulled repeatedly but Taskin said that it was the slow nature of the track that posed problems.

"I also bowled short so did he (Rabbi) and they picked it up well after lunch. Rabbi bowled well in New Zealand but perhaps erred in bowling the New Zealand length in India.

"There was good carry for the bouncers at the start but after the wicket got slower, the bouncers didn't rear up. It was coming at half-short height. Also you can't bowl completely full length as they were easily driving. One need to hit the good length," he observed.

Taskin said that to stay in the match, Bangladesh needed to restrict India to 450, which looks difficult at the moment.

"It's a good wicket. May be, if we can bowl them out between 450 runs then it will be good for us. Actually, had that run out (Murali Vijay) taken place, we could have had 5-6 wickets instead of 3. But missed catches, missed run-outs are part and parcel of the game," he said.

For Taskin, bowling to Virat Kohli was a learning experience.

"He is a top batsman in world cricket. Against him, you are not allowed to bowl loose balls. He left the good balls, edged a few but the loose deliveries were all hit for boundaries.