‘We will leak runs’ – Taskin Ahmed ahead of the first Test match against India

On 14 December 2022, team India will begin their two-match Test series in Bangladesh. However, they lost the three-match ODI series by a 2-1 margin. Now, the focus will be shifted to the longer format of the game as this series will be crucial for the Men in Blue in order to get qualified for the final of the World Test Championship.

Meanwhile, Taskin Ahmed missed the first two matches of the ODI series due to an injury setback. Now, he will be back in action for his country in this series. Ahead of the series, Taskin came up with a request for his fellow bowlers as they have to be very patient against the quality batters from India.

“Fast bowlers ideally want to bowl on green tops. Conditions are not in our hands.” – Taskin Ahmed 

As said by ESPNCricinfo, Taskin Ahmed said: “It is the same everywhere: top of off [stump]. If we try to force the issue, it would not work in our favour. We will leak runs. They are good players, so we have to get the new ball to swing a bit. Maybe get a reverse swing with the old ball. We have to try to break their patience. We have to bowl patiently and wait for their mistakes. It won’t be right to say that we want to blow them away.”

“Fast bowlers ideally want to bowl on green tops. Conditions are not in our hands. We have got slow and flat tracks in South Africa and New Zealand. We have to make ourselves so skilful that we can bowl well on all types of wickets. Great bowlers are also getting five-fors on flat tracks. We have to focus on our self-improvement rather than [look at] conditions,” he added.

However, Taskin said that he is unsure whether he will be available for the first Test because he is still recovering from a back injury. “The team management is concerned about my workload build-up. I have just returned from an injury, so I am working on increasing workload build-up, fitness and bowling load. “If I can fulfil the load before this game, they may think of playing me. If not, then I might not play this Test. I might be playing the second Test in that case. I have spoken to them about it. I am following my workload plan,” Taskin Ahmed concluded.