Every team struggles against Afghan bowlers, says Pothas
Nic Pothas, Cricfrenzy
|| CF DESK ||
Nick Pothas resigns as Bangladesh assistant coach before Champions Trophy
17 Jan 25
Bangladesh assistant coach Nic Pothas said that every team struggles against the Afghanistan bowlers, not just Bangladesh batters.
Bangladesh suffered their first ODI series defeat against Afghanistan after losing the first two ODIs at Chattogram's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury.
In the ICC ODI rankings, Afghanistan is ranked ninth. Before this series, they defeated teams like Scotland, Ireland, Zimbabwe, and the Netherlands to win ODI series. Pothas insisted that facing their mystery spinners was a worthwhile task.
"They are ranked below us, but two of those spinners are among the top three spinners in the world. We are looking at it with a very positive outlook," he said.
Pothas wanted to clarify at the press conference today that Bangladesh batters were not the only one having a difficult time reading the spinners in the world cricket.
‘Shakib Al Hasan is a mega star’- Hamza Choudhury refuses to compare himself with Shakib
18 hrs ago![Hamza Choudhury [L] and Shakib Al Hasan](https://cricfrenzy.com/public/storage/images/3-2025/123T1f2d6gd9Raae3098b7a5.jpg)
"I think it is not a question of whether we struggled to pick them. It is a question of how the world struggles to pick them. Where they are ranked in the world will tell you everybody in the world struggle pick them,"
"I had Mujeeb with me at Middlesex. Even after I was talking to him as a wicketkeeper, I struggled to pick him from behind. Could everyone pick Shane Warne, Muralitharan? That's why they are the best in the world. That's why every competition in the world puts up so much money for mystery spin. Question is, what are we going to do about it, and how is it going to make us better?" he said.
Bangladesh lost the first match by 17 runs on DLS and suffered a crushing 142-run, their largest margin defeat by runs against Afghanistan, in the second game to loss their only third series at home since 2015. World champions England were the team to beat Bangladesh twice in this period.
But what the English couldn't do, Afghanistan looked on course to do that by inflicting a whitewash, something Bangladesh never experienced at home since 2012.
Last time Bangladesh lost all of the matches of the ODI series at home was back in 2012 against Pakistan. Later in 2014, they also suffered a 2-0 defeat to India in three-match series.
