Shahriar Nafees points out Steve Smith as the biggest challenge for Bangladesh

Bangladeshi opener Shahriar Nafees has made it clear that Aussie skipper Steve Smith will be the toughest obstacle for the Tigers in the upcoming two match test series. Bangladesh will play Australia at Mirpur on Sunday which will mark the beginning of the first test of the series between the two nations.

Nafees pointed out the fact that Smith was the lone warrior for the Kangaroos in their 2-1 series defeat to India earlier this year. He mentioned that the Bangladeshi pacers will have to be in their very best form to pick up his wicket. having said that he claimed that there is a good chance of getting the captain leg before wicket once the ball starts to reverse swing.

What Nafees said:

“Smith will be the biggest challenge for Bangladesh. If you look at their recent India tour, he was the man who fought alone. To get Smith out, Bangladesh pacers have to bowl on a exact channel. They shouldn’t give him short-bowls. But there is a high opportunity to get him out by lbw, when reverse swinging starts,” Nafees said in his latest column for The Daily Prothom-alo.

“Spinners have more chances to be successful against him as compared to the pacers. He was dismissed 11 times by the spinners in the sub-continent. However, that does not prove him poor against the spinners rather I would say a batsman has to face spinners more in the sub-continent so. Like if you play 100 overs in a Test match here, you have to face spinners in 90 overs.” Nafees added.

Speaking about Aussie vice captain David Warner, Nafees said that spin bowling is his weakness. Nafees highlighted the fact that Mehedi Hasan could be the trump card for Bangladesh against David Warner. “He doesn’t have a great past record in the sub-continent. Warner plays bouncer very well. But he is weak against off-spin and we have seen that many times.” he said.

“I think our Mehedi Hasan Miraz could be a great weapon against him. He always tries to play attacking cricket, coming down the wicket. We shouldn’t give him such opportunity.” he said.