'We need to give fast bowlers a condition that suits their strength'

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurasingha indicated there will be a 'good sporting wicket for everybody' in the one-off Test against Afghanistan starting from Wednesday. He also hinted there will be help for the fast bowlers early on and the heat deteriorating the surface will help the spinners later in the game. Hathurusingha believes the condition should suit the quality fast bowlers' strength in Mirpur Test.

"We have quality fast bowlers. So, we need to give them a condition that suits their strength," he said in the pre-match press conference.

"We have good spinners as well. So, this game is only starting as a green wicket. You know that with this heat it'll deteriorate very quickly, and then it'll help the spinners in the latter parts of the game. So, I think this pitch is a good sporting wicket for everybody, the batter, bowlers – fast bowlers and spinners. So, I'd like to see a good contest," he added.

Hathurasingha admitted Bangladesh now have a proper pacers' pipeline of seven or eight bowlers and he credited the staff from High Performance (HP) Unit and Tigers team for this. He hinted Bangladesh going with three or even four pacers in the lineup against Afghanistan.

"We have now about seven, eight bowlers that we can pick any time. So, the fast-bowling unit, whoever has done work in the past, even from the HP or the Tigers has done a really good job. And they have come leaps and bounds and I'm confident that whether we go three or four, we never know tomorrow. So, they're ready to go."

The head coach further said they want to continue the brand of cricket they played against Ireland.

"As we discussed, before that Ireland series, we wanted to play a certain brand of cricket, regardless of the result. So yes, our endgame is to get results, but we wanted to understand how our skill set last five days in different conditions, challenging us to play in a certain way."