Difficult to set a goal for the whole year in Tests: Mominul

Bangladesh will be starting the year 2022 with a crucial World Test Championship (WTC) fixture against New Zealand. With Bangladesh putting up a dismal showing in the past year across formats, one would hope that the Tigers will have a plan set for the challenges of the upcoming year. 

However, as far as Test skipper Mominul Haque is concerned, Bangladesh are seemingly heading towards another year without a long-term plan. At least that is the apparent case for the Test side. 
 
"For the time being, I am not thinking about my goal [as a Test captain and a player] in 2022. For now, I am thinking about this series, how we can do well in this series and win games," said Mominul during a virtual pre-match conference today ahead of their first of two Tests against New Zealand starting from tomorrow at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. 

Even though it is uttered with quite a lot of zeal in press conferences, long-term plans in any format have always eluded the Bangladesh team management and players. 

Bangladesh have a number of challenging series, that include Tests, set up for the coming year. The Tigers are set to tour South Africa, West Indies and will also host India this year. All these series include two Test matches, all part of the WTC.     

And according to Mominul, with such challenging series on the horizon, it is difficult to set a particular goal in the Test format. 

"In the Test format, it is actually very difficult to set a goal for the whole year and plan what you want to do the entire year. Because we will be playing Tests in tough conditions in the coming year. We have the South Africa series, India series and Sri Lanka series lined up next. I think it is better not to think ahead but make small goals in order to progress," said Mominul. 

The 30-year-old also seemed a bit agitated when a similar topic was raised in the presser. Asked about his hopes for Bangladesh cricket in the next year and that he has already talked about getting a good start in 2022, the cricketer replied: "Yes, I will always say that [we want to get a good start to the next year]. Even if we go through a bad phase this year and we end up being 10th in Tests [in the World Test Championship], I will still say the same thing the next year if I stay captain of the side. I will never say anything negative and will always think about being better."

Playing a total of seven Tests in 2021, Bangladesh were only able to win one. That win also came against Zimbabwe in a fixture that was not part of the WTC. The Tigers lost five and ended up drawing just one Test, away to Sri Lanka, this year.

Mominul mentioned that his ultimate goal will be to take Bangladesh to a decent enough state in the format. 

"Obviously, I want to play good cricket and take Bangladesh to a decent state in Tests. We are thinking about ways to not repeat the mistakes we made in the past year," added Mominul.