After finishing practice, Phil Simmons arrived at the press conference a little earlier than scheduled. Soaked in sweat under the blazing sun, Bangladesh’s head coach stood beneath the air conditioner and said, “It’s extremely hot… the weather is absolutely stifling.” Just like Simmons, Bangladesh cricket too seems desperate to find a bit of cool relief. Right now, the heat off the field feels even more intense than Chittagong’s unbearable weather — where it barely feels like cricket anymore.
On the field, frustration over performances continues to mount; off the field, the controversy around Towhid Hridoy’s punishment in the Dhaka Premier League has thickened the air. For days now, Bangladesh cricket has been mired in chaos. Against this backdrop, the team will head into the Chittagong Test, fighting to save the series against Zimbabwe.
The final Test will be played at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Flight Lt. Matiur Rahman Cricket Stadium (formerly Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium) in Chittagong, starting Monday at 10 a.m.
After the embarrassing defeat in Sylhet, where Bangladesh paid the price for a dreadful batting performance, they got two days to train in Chittagong. Although the whole squad practiced Saturday, three pacers — Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, and Tanzim Hasan — were rested the day before the match.
There isn’t much concern around the bowling unit. It’s the batting that has continued to let Bangladesh down. There’s been no spark at the top, with the opening pair struggling for runs. Mominul Haque and Najmul Hossain Shanto have failed to build meaningful innings. And the most experienced hand, Mushfiqur Rahim, has been out of form for a while now.
Mushfiq, without a 40-plus score in his last 12 innings, once again put in extra hours in the nets on Sunday. After the net session officially ended for recognized batters, the senior assistant coach asked Mushfiq to wrap up. But desperate to find form, Mushfiq requested more time and later batted alongside lower-order players like Nayeem Hasan and Taijul Islam.
After two grueling hours of training in the steamy weather, Simmons appeared for the press conference. A journalist joked, “You’ll have to endure this heat for five more days!” Simmons smiled and replied, “We hope to win the match in four.”
Bangladesh will indeed take the field chasing victory — because there’s no alternative if they want to avoid their first series defeat against Zimbabwe in nearly 21 years. To win in four days and level the series, Bangladesh will need a dominant performance, both with bat and ball, backed by a positive mindset.
That’s exactly what Simmons emphasized during the press conference:
“We know we didn’t bat well as a team in the first match and got ourselves into trouble. Now our mindset is to play a positive brand of Test cricket. It’s not like we’ll bat all day and score only 200 runs.”
The Chittagong pitch could assist Bangladesh’s batters in playing that positive game. Historically, it’s been a run-friendly surface. Although Bangladesh failed to cross 200 in either innings in their last Test here in October, South Africa piled up 575 in the same match.
Bangladesh themselves have a history of posting big totals in Chittagong. After inspecting the pitch on Sunday morning with captain Shanto, Simmons seemed optimistic:
“The wicket looks very good. Quite solid, smooth, and a little dry. As the match progresses, we might expect some turn, which could work in our favor.”
Zimbabwe’s captain Craig Ervine, however, didn’t get a chance to inspect the match pitch before the press conference. From his observation of the practice wickets, he expects spin to play a major role:
“The nets felt a bit slow to us. As the game goes on, spin might become a bigger factor in this Test.”
Even with a helpful surface for batting, Bangladesh’s pace attack will be slightly weakened. Nahid Rana left to play in the Pakistan Super League, and no replacement was named.
Still, Simmons is confident that Hasan Mahmud and Khaled Ahmed can make up for the lost pace with skill:
“I don’t think we’ve lost strength. We’ve lost a bit of pace — nobody has Nahid Rana’s raw speed. But we have skill, and these bowlers know how to handle the conditions in Chittagong. It’s usually a slow wicket. Hopefully, we can get some turn and our pacers will do their job with their skills.”
Even with their on-field plans set, Bangladesh’s battle is not just against Zimbabwe. They must also fight the swirling crises off the field. Towhid Hridoy was suspended for two DPL matches after showing dissent toward an umpire. Many of the Test players had joined the squad right after that match.
Since then, off-field dramas have dominated headlines — including debates over Hridoy’s punishment, its suspension, reinstatement, cricketers uniting to express grievances to the board, and fresh rounds of tension among different parties. Though the Test players have been outside Dhaka, the internet and social media make physical distance irrelevant.
Simmons knows the off-field storm could affect his players mentally. Ahead of the match, he’s keen to shield Shanto, Mominul, and the others from distractions:
“As coaching staff, we must try to ensure they stay away from all that and not let their focus be disturbed by outside noise.”
“We are about to play a Test match. Tonight, when we have our final team meeting, we’ll have to stress that the only thing they should think about for the next five days is Bangladesh cricket — nothing else.”
Simmons didn’t reveal Bangladesh’s probable XI for the Test, and neither did Zimbabwe’s Ervine. Both captains want to finalize selections after taking another look at the conditions.
The two teams, however, are entering the match from very different places. Zimbabwe, on the back of their first Test win in nearly four years, have the chance to seal a rare overseas series win — something they haven’t done since 2001. Against Bangladesh, their last series victory came in 2004.
Ervine doesn’t want his players to feel burdened by the chance to end a long drought:
“It’s important to understand the process behind winning the first Test. Just because we’re 1-0 up, we don’t want to pile pressure on ourselves. Of course, there’s an expectation to win the series. But we must break it down into small steps, maintain the process. The longer we can stick to it, the better our chances. We can’t get ahead of ourselves thinking about the result.”
For Bangladesh, however, ignoring the result is not an option. After being whitewashed by Sri Lanka and South Africa at home last year, and now suffering a fresh low with the Sylhet defeat against Zimbabwe, another series loss would push Bangladesh cricket into even deeper crisis — one that no one will be able to hide from.
