Tamim Iqbal is giving credit to local coaches along with Donald and Gibson for the historic series win. A new chapter has been written in Bangladesh’s cricket history.
Before this series, Bangladesh had never won a Test match against Pakistan, but they have now whitewashed Pakistan in their own backyard. This is Bangladesh’s second Test series win abroad, and Pakistan has suffered the embarrassment of a second whitewash at home in Tests.
After such a tour, naturally, everyone from the players to the coaching staff of the Bangladesh team is receiving praise. Tamim Iqbal, the opener who is currently outside the team, also highlighted the contribution of local coaches to this success.
He credited former pace bowling coaches Allan Donald and Ottis Gibson for the outstanding performances by the pacers. Tamim analyzed the entire series on the cricket website ESPNcricinfo, where he mentioned the contributions of local coaches and Bangladesh’s former coaches. Before the Pakistan tour, the players had a long two-and-a-half-month Tigers camp in Sylhet and Chattogram.
The camp, which started on May 25, was conducted by local coaches. Many Test team members, including Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque, and Mehedi Hasan Miraz, were part of this camp. Therefore, Tamim gave credit to the local coaches, saying, “After a big win, people often forget the smaller things. While the cricketers playing ODIs and T20s were busy with the T20 World Cup, most of the Test team members were practicing under the Tigers’ camp. The camp lasted for over a month. Mushfiq, Mominul, and Miraz were there. This camp was conducted under the supervision of local coaches, and they deserve a lot of credit. It played a significant role.”
During the Pakistan tour, Bangladesh pacers made a name for themselves. From Shariful Islam and Taskin Ahmed, who played one Test each, to Nahid Rana, everyone left their mark. In the second innings of the second Test, all ten wickets were taken by pacers. Tamim credited former pace bowling coaches Allan Donald and Ottis Gibson for the success of the pacers, saying, “This (Rawalpindi) was a wicket where many runs have been scored before.
The Pakistan pacers could not extract as much advantage from it as Bangladesh pacers did. This is something the pacers should be proud of. Those who were coaches before deserve credit. Allan Donald and Ottis Gibson worked hard to bring this pace bowling unit this far.”
Allan Donald was appointed as Bangladesh’s fast bowling coach in March 2022. During this time, the pace bowling department of the national team improved significantly. He stepped down after the ODI World Cup in India. Before Donald, Ottis Gibson was Bangladesh’s pace bowling coach. The current bowling coach, Andre Adams, has been with the team since last February.
Tamim added to the pacers’ success, saying, “This is huge for Bangladesh’s pace bowling unit. Since the T20 World Cup, I’ve been saying that the pacers are doing well. Taskin didn’t get wickets, but his line and length were impeccable.
After the first Test, I wasn’t sure if Nahid Rana would play or not. If Shariful hadn’t been injured, we might not have seen Nahid Rana in the second Test. His sheer pace troubled Pakistan’s best batsmen. On the other hand, Hasan knew his limitations. He didn’t try anything fancy and stuck to his line, which yielded results.”
