Lack of practice games hurt Bangladesh in Zimbabwe - Mohammad Ashraful

Bangladesh batting coach Mohammad Ashraful believes the absence of practice matches played a significant role in the team's disappointing results on their recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe. Bangladesh returned home after winning the three-match T20I series, having earlier lost the one-off Test and the three-match ODI series. "This option is no longer available; there used to be practice games before the main matches. "When we go on tour these days, we start with the series right away and don't have time to get used to the condition," Ashraful told reporters at the airport on Wednesday, July 22, after the team arrived from Zimbabwe. "Even though the ODI and Test teams arrived early, they were unable to play practice matches. If we had played them then I believe the result would have been in our favour." Ashraful, however, feels the Zimbabwe tour will prove valuable ahead of Bangladesh's historic Test tour of Australia. Additionally, he believes that the three-day practice match scheduled prior to the two-match series will aid in team acclimatization. The two matches, part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, will be played in Darwin (August 13-17) and Mackay (August 22-26). With seven wins from eight matches, Australia leads the World Test Championship standings with a points percentage of 87.50. They have named a full-strength squad for the series, highlighting the significance of the match. He stated, "It will be tough in Australia, but the good news is that we will travel there 10-12 days early, and we will have the opportunity to play a three-day practice match. Hopefully, if all of our players are fit, we will be able to do well there." Ashraful refused to be overly critical of his batters despite the underwhelming tour, insisting one poor series should not overshadow the progress they have made in recent months. He also pointed out that several players were touring Zimbabwe for the first time and gained valuable experience in unfamiliar conditions. "Our batters did really well in the last seven months," Ashraful stated. "One series can go bad, one Test match went bad, but our batters played extremely well in the four Tests before that." "If you notice we took the ODIs seriously, Mustafizur and the others were there, but they couldn't play due to injury, Mustafizur couldn't play from the second game. "See we can lose one or two games, different conditions, after playing so well over the last seven months there is nothing to be morally down after losing one or two matches I believe, obviously they have gained experience from playing in different condition," said Ashraful. "Tanzid Tamim, Towhid Hridoy, Rishad, it was their first tour of Zimbabwe and first time playing in this kind of condition, they adjusted well. Tamim played outstanding, scored four fifties in six white-ball matches, looking at him it could be seen that he had adjusted to the condition seamlessly, I think it was a positive side. Yasir Rabbi played brilliantly in his comeback series. One or two matches... actually none of us like to lose, after losing obviously we have to take the positives forward." Ashraful also dismissed concerns over Bangladesh's qualification for the 2027 ODI World Cup, saying the team remains focused on taking one series at a time. He added that the tours of Zimbabwe and Australia would aid Bangladesh's preparations for the World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. "I believe this tour as well as the tour of Australia will help us in that regard as far as the extra bounce is concerned (that we are expecting in World Cup)," said Ashraful. "We are not worried at all (regarding World Cup qualification), we are taking each series as it comes. Before this series Bangladesh won five consecutive series at home, this series did not go in our favour. The upcoming ODI series - if India come here there will be three matches, then South Africa, we will try to play our best cricket."