KOLKATA, Oct 27 (AFP): Bangladesh spearhead Taskin Ahmed said Friday "there's nothing much for bowlers" at the World Cup as runs flow in India's batting paradise.
The 28-year-old Taskin returns to the Bangladesh side for today's (Saturday's) clash with the Netherlands after being rested to nurse a shoulder niggle.
Both Bangladesh and the Dutch have just one win each against four losses and another defeat at Eden Gardens will almost certainly signal the end of their slim semi-final hopes.
"There's nothing much for the bowlers," said Taskin who has taken only two wickets in three matches at a cost of 126 runs.
"It's kind of batting friendly, all the grounds."
He added: "But also there are some challenges and it's not all about speed. Like we have seen there are express fast bowlers in the world, they're also struggling, leaking runs.
"You need some variation skills and a game awareness. You need a lot of skills to do well on this kind of surface."
Bangladesh are eighth in the 10-team World Cup table while the Netherlands are at the bottom. Both have just two points.
But 28-year-old Taskin believes his team can still make it to the last four.
"It's not finished yet, we still have four more games to go," said Ahmed.
After facing the Netherlands, Bangladesh will meet Pakistan (October 30 in Kolkata), Sri Lanka (New Delhi on November 6) and Australia (Pune on November 11).
"If we can win those four, anything can happen because there are some run-rate issues."
Taskin played down the controversy of skipper Shakib Al Hasan leaving for home during the World Cup to work with his own batting coach.
Shakib was greeted with boos by frustrated Bangladesh fans when he appeared in Dhaka.
"It's not affected us much," said Taskin. "Actually he went for some improvements, like he was not batting as well as he expected. But he went to do some specific practice to do well for our team."
Reuters News from Bengaluru adds: The Bangladesh squad were not affected by skipper Shakib Al Hasan's unplanned trip to Dhaka in the middle of their World Cup campaign and they appreciate the fact that he went to hone his technique, Taskin Ahmed said on Friday.
Shakib travelled to Dhaka this week and local media reported he had a three-hour net session with his childhood mentor, before returning to Kolkata where Bangladesh play the Netherlands today (Saturday).
When asked if team morale had taken a hit when Shakib left the squad, Taskin told reporters: "No, actually it's not affected (us) much. I think after he came back, we had a really good time.
"But actually, he went for some improvements, he has not batted as well as he expected."
Kolkata will host its first World Cup game on Saturday and Taskin said he expects a very good wicket.
"Normally when I played here before, it's a very good batting track. The outfield is pretty fast. But I think both bowlers and batsman are going to get some help," he said.
Taskin said Bangladesh's fielding has come good in the tournament, partly thanks to their former fielding coach Ryan Cook.
The South African is now the Dutch team's head coach and captain Scott Edwards said his inputs have helped the European side.
"Especially in terms of that sort of analyst side. He obviously worked for a long time with the Bangladesh team and a lot of these guys individually," Edwards said.
"He's sort of spreading what he knows about this squad, but there's obviously some new players (that) change over years as well."
Edwards also said it was time the team's main batters fired.
"I'm sure our top order would be very keen to start getting into this tournament with a few more runs than we have so far," he said.
"There is a positive that the guys in the middle and the lower order have been making contributions for us. So hopefully once it all clicks, we can start putting on some big totals."
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Litton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Nasum Ahmed/Towhid Hridoy, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
Netherlands (probable): 1 Vikramjit Singh, 2 Max O'Dowd, 3 Colin Ackermann, 4 Sybrand Engelbrecht, 5 Bas de Leede, 6 Scott Edwards (capt & wk), 7 Teja Nidamanuru, 8 Logan van Beek, 9 Roelof van der Merwe, 10 Aryan Dutt, 11 Paul van Meekeren
Head-to-head record
20/07/2010: Glasgow - Netherlands won by 6 wickets
14/03/2011: Chittagong - Bangladesh won by 6 wickets
Overall
Bangladesh wins: 1
Netherlands wins: 1
Tied: 0
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