‘Pacers need to show they deserve to play’

Over the last few years, Bangladesh have banked on their spinners to grind out results in home Tests against strong oppositions. The Tigers have been picking a spin-heavy lineup at home and that meant the pacers had little opportunity to bowl in home conditions. Tigers' Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan warned that the pacers needed to gain the trust of the team's think tank to get more chances.

Shakib pointed out that one of the key factors in deciding to play more spinners at home was because winning is important. "You can say that we don't use pacers too much at home. It's because we are thinking of winning.

"We used to play two pacers at home home previously but we didn't get that much success," the skipper said.

He reiterated that it is not wrong to play more spinners in order to win in home conditions.

"We had to change our plans and I don't feel that it's a wrong decision to think about something different in order to win. Important is that whenever pacers get the opportunity, they do well. They have to make the team understand that their place in the squad is deserved," he reiterated.

Bangladesh have upcoming away series in India and Pakistan and Shakib felt that pacers have a big role to play in the upcoming series.

"When we travel away, we always play two to three pacers. Their performances in away Tests are very important. We have series against India and Pakistan after this which are both away from home. The pacers have a big role to play in order to win Tests there. It's not that they don't have a role but they have to fulfill their duties in the right place," Shakib concluded.