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Bangladeshi Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim has said that the upcoming Test series against Australia is their best opportunity to beat the Aussies, reported ESPNcricinfo. Rahim also compared his squad to the squad which had nearly pulled off an improbable win nine years ago at Fatullah.
"This is the biggest chance to beat Australia," Mushfiqur said. "We will definitely try to give more than our 100% in both Tests."
Bangladesh have had a great run of form in the ODI format with four series wins out of the last four they have played. They have beaten Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India and South Africa in the last four bilateral series. In Tests they defeated Zimbabwe 3-0, lost to Pakistan in one Test and the ones against India and South Africa were washed out.
The Australia series is Bangladesh’s last assignment of the year, and they will be looking to finish off on a high.
"It would be a great way to end the year [with a win]. In 2006 they had the greatest team of all time. At that time we were long way from even thinking about beating them, and some even questioned whether we can play for four days," the Bangladesh skipper said.
"If that team can go close to beating them [in the first Test in Fatullah], why can't this team beat them? A win won't be impossible if we can play five days. I hope we become like our ODI side. Our cricket has come to such a stage that expectations are a bit more these days," Mushfiqur went on to say.
Our pacers will challenge Australia: Rahim
Mashrafe Mortaza's captaincy has been the reason for rising expectations in the Bangladeshi cricketing circles, and in particular his backing of the pace attack. Since he took over as limited-overs captain last year, Mashrafe has used Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain in a three pronged pace attack. Mustafizur Rahman's success has forced the team management to pick four pace bowlers at times, but the same can't be said about the Test pacers who haven’t been at their best.
Mushfiqur is hoping that the ODI bowling attack can adapt well to Tests. Taskin and Rubel are part of the Bangladesh A team that will play three one-dayers and two three-day games in India from this week. Shafiul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain are also in the Bangladesh A squad touring India.
"We have choices in pace bowling, which is great news for Bangladesh cricket. A lot of matches this year were won by pace bowlers. If we can combine pace and spin and our batsmen do well, the series against Australia will be a good one,” Rahim said.
Smith and Maxwell are our main targets: Rahim
He is also hoping that the Bangladesh A team perform well and come back with more experience "We hope that the Bangladesh A team does well. Those of us who are playing in the NCL, will also try to give good performances although we are playing just one game. I hope everyone makes the best use of it. We are mentally focused from now."
Mushfiqur also identified Steven Smith the newly appointed Test captain as Australia's 'main' man.
"It was expected that they would rest Johnson and Hazlewood. They have two new cricketers but we will know about them soon enough," he said. "They may be a young team, we can't forget this is Australia. In these conditions, Smith is their main cricketer. And Maxwell is making a comeback after playing in the UAE. We will try to keep these two under pressure and get them out quickly."
Mushfiqur also said that the threat posed by Nathan Lyon would be tackled and kept to a minimum just like the way Bangladesh nullified South African leg spinner Imran Tahir, who picked up just two wickets in the ODI series in July.
"They are not weak in playing spin. Look at Nathan Lyon's record," Mushfiqur said. "He is among the top-three spinners in the world. He is effective against left-handers and we have a few of them. We have made some plans for him, something similar to what we did against Imran Tahir."
Australia are set to arrive in Dhaka on September 28. The first Test will be played in Chittagong and will begin on October 9.
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