Taskin says ‘nothing for bowlers’ at World Cup batting paradise

MUMBAI (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 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.”