Pakistan v Bangladesh, 4th ODI
Siddons urges Ashraful to perform
Bureau Report

MULTAN—Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, has called on his captain and most experienced batsman, Mohammad Ashraful, to start performing ahead of their fourth ODI against Pakistan in Multan.
Ashraful has had a poor series so far, scoring only 47 runs in three innings, as Bangladesh have relied heavily on contributions from Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah Riad and Shakib Al Hasan. “I am concerned about his performances,” Siddons said. “As captain of the team, he needs to perform and score.”
It can’t yet be said how captaincy has affected Ashraful’s batting. He averages two runs more than his career figure of 22.26 in 15 matches as captain, though he has only scored two fifties in that period. But when Bangladesh have done well, he has usually been at the centre.
He looked to be getting some form back in the third ODI in Lahore, but he was run out when set, for 22. “Ashraful is the most experienced batsman in our side,” Siddons said. “Whenever he performs the team wins. I have spoken to him about it. The way he has been training I think a big score is round the corner.”
Siddons will hope his words have the same effect on Ashraful that they did on Shakib. After the second ODI in Faisalabad, Siddons highlighted the need for his top six - particularly Shakib - to start scoring runs. Shakib responded with 75 in the third ODI, taking Bangladesh closer than many thought to Pakistan. “I put the heat on Shakib and Aftab [Ahmed] after Faisalabad and they responded well to it,” Siddons said. “I am now putting the heat on Ashraful in the same way. I am confident he will come good in the last two matches.”
Bangladesh’s batting has improved as the series has progressed and their total in Lahore was comfortably their highest against established opposition, as well as their highest second innings score in an ODI. If Ashraful joins Tamim, Shakib and Aftab in scoring runs against an experimental Pakistan attack, we may well have a match on our hands.
In few departments of the game have Bangladesh been visibly better than Pakistan in this series. Their batting, though improving, has been fitful and when they have scored runs, they have given away the fruits of their effort. Their bowling has broadly been ineffective, save the admirable Mashrafe Mortaza. Bangladesh’s youth possibly edges the fielding stakes, though not by much.
But the one department where Bangladesh are better off is the discipline of their bowlers. In three matches so far, they have given away 32 extras, of which 19 were wides. Moreover, they have bowled just a solitary no-ball in the series, and that too was a beamer from Shahadat Hossain.
In contrast, Pakistan have leaked 60 extras in three matches, of which 39 are wides and 10 front-foot no-balls. Against Zimbabwe earlier in the year, Pakistan conceded 80 extras in five games, with 62 wides and 10 no-balls. Under the free-hit rule, even a single no-ball is a sin and with a coach who is an ex-bowler himself, even more so. But this is an old, embedded problem that has afflicted most Pakistan pace bowlers through the 90s, briefly controlled when Waqar Younis became bowling coach two years ago.
“It is definitely a concern for us,” Shoaib Malik, Pakistan captain, said. “The problem has been with controlling the new ball at the start. We have tried some new bowlers and that has affected it [the extras] as well. But we are working hard on it. If you make 300-plus and give away 30-40 extras, that takes away the advantage of such a big total and we really need to control this element.”

—Agencies