Indore: Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo said on Friday that India do not need spinners anymore to win Test matches at home and that the mindset has changed over the last two years with their pacers coming to the party big time.
“There’s no doubt that in the past, India backed themselves to win at home on spinning pitches. Now I don’t think that’s the case. I think they are backing themselves against any team on good pitches. There’s definitely a mindset shift,” Domingo said after the second day’s play.
Mayank Agarwal headlined India’s domination with a classy double hundred, his second, to help the team post a mammoth 493/6 against a hapless Bangladesh side Day 2 of the first Test here. India now lead by 343 runs after Bangladesh were all out for 150 in the first innings.
The coach said that Bangladesh also needs to develop more fast bowlers. Except for Abu Jayed, who grabbed career-best figures of 4/108, none of the Bangladesh bowlers left a mark on Friday.
“It is something that Bangladesh also need to do by trying to develop fast bowlers, prepare wickets that help fast bowlers. India no longer relies on spinners. They will prepare good wickets and back their fast bowlers to do the business,” he said.
“The structure of the team needs to change. It is very hard to play with two seamers. We definitely need to find a third seamer who can bat. There’s Saifuddin, but he is struggling with injuries,” he added.
Domingo said that he wants fresh faces in the team even if it means losing a few matches.
“If it means that we need to go with some new faces and struggle for a period of time, I don’t think it is any different to what is happening at the moment. There are some fantastic players in our side who needs to be respected. We need to value their performance for Bangladesh, but we also need to take a decision in the best interest of the team.”
