Nayeem ends with a gem
The Bangladesh team management's mantra to rid the Tigers of their dependency on spin in the home was evident as a sporting pitch awaited at the centre of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur during the first day of the first Test against Zimbabwe yesterday.
Although the surface did not offer tremendous assist with the hosts' bowlers, the Tigers, led by Nayeem Hasan, worked hard and were rewarded for bowling a good line and length.
The off-spinner bowled a marathon spell of 32 overs at one point and completed a complete of 36 overs, ending with four wickets for 68 runs.
Among his four wickets, the scalp of centurion Ervine right before the stumps gave the hosts a thin upper hand as Zimbabwe will resume on 228 for six.
Nayeem made good make use of the opportunity after coming into the eleven instead of off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who was simply dropped for the very first time in home Tests since making his debut in 2016.
Miraz, who missed the Tigers' previous Test against Pakistan because of a finger injury, has endured a lean patch since getting 15 wickets against the West Indies at home in 2018.
Despite the lack of help from the top, Nayeem showed his mettle by mixing his deliveries with pace, bounce and a certain line and length for major parts of the day.
The cricketer from Chattogram produced the ball of your day to dismiss Ervine as a quicker delivery zipped through the left-hander's tired legs and experienced the gate between pad and bat before going for a deflection off his back leg and going on to hit timber.
Nayeem's strategy was simple: bowl constantly at a specific length. He found success by preferring the off-stump line, forcing batsmen to provide shots and waiting for mistakes.
Even earlier, Zimbabwe had found Nayeem to be only threat after opting to bat. The off-spinner dropped a hardcore return catch from opener Prince Masvaure and was denied a first wicket of the day, but he compensated immediately after by firmly taking a sharp catch off his own bowling to dismiss Masvaure and break the 111-run second-wicket stand.
However, Nayeem did not get enough support from the other end from his bowling partner, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, who had a tough day at any office and went wicketless during 21 overs that yielded 75 runs.
Nayeem still teased the Zimbabwe batsmen and found the crucial wickets of Brendon Taylor and Sikandar Raza cheaply to break through the center order and present the hosts much-needed momentum.
Nayeem, who came into the overall game with 21 wickets in the last two Bangladesh Cricket League games for Islami Bank East Zone, believes that bowling long spells in first-class cricket had helped him immensely.
"My plan was to bowl at a particular area and I didn't try to do other things. I picked up this habit [of bowling long spells] from the National Cricket League [first-class tournament]. I bowled long periods there and learned that bowling in a single area can get you success," a soft-spoken Nayeem told reporters yesterday.
Although he came into this match with just four Tests under his belt, Nayeem displayed great maturity and pressed the necessity for pace variations from the spinners.
"It is important for our spinners to work on pace variations. We are trying to bowl at one line regularly for a longer time," he said.
With the visitors on 228 for six, Nayeem believes it'll be very important to the hosts to bundle out the opposition quickly if they resume the next day.
