Bangladesh batter Mominul Haque seems to have changed while plying his trade with the bat.The left-hander scored three back-to-back fifties in the just concluded Test series against Ireland but that’s not all, he seemed to be much more controlled in his batting. Quite a change from the past when he used to try and dominate from the very beginning. When asked, Mominul insisted his one-on-one sessions in Australia ahead of the Ireland series with former national head coach Chandika Hathurusingha helped him a lot to rediscover himself as a batter.
How did the Ireland series go as far as you are concerned?
Overall, Alhamdulillah. If I could have scored two centuries, it would have been even better.
If we look at your conversion rate, you’re getting out in the 80s. What’s happening in that area? You’ve scored 25 half-centuries, and there are seven scores in the eighties there.
I think it happens in careers, getting dismissed despite going close to hundreds. It happens sometimes. I don’t regret it because at the end of the day, as a batter, my target is to play session by session. That’s what I think about.
Mohammad Ashraful said during the Test series that Mominul doesn’t think about the personal goals, rather he thinks about the process. Can you describe it?
Look, it’s different for each batter, that’s what I think. I don’t think many players think too much about milestones. Actually, no one really thinks about milestones. When you get into the game, when you are in the game, it depends on how you are playing on that particular day, in that condition, in that situation. How you are handling the opposition bowler, which bowler is effective for that condition, how you will play them, what separate plans you are making for them, and which bowler might be out of form or not suited to the conditions, how you will utilise them. So, the whole thing depends on that. Because once you get into that, I think as a batter, thoughts of milestones won’t come to your mind at that time because you’re already thinking about so many other things.
So, this other thing you are thinking about, or trying to think about, it doesn’t really yield much fruit, or rather, that behavior doesn’t help much as an outcome. And many people don’t even have it. Yes, when you get into the nineties, maybe there’s a little nervousness, everyone is a bit nervous as a human being. If not, then this person would be an alien. They actually have no emotion. When you enter the nineties, everyone feels a little emotion, in the sense of ‘nervous nineties’ or a tendency to score a century. It happens in many cases; it doesn’t happen in many cases. Meaning, one can score a century, or one cannot.
So, overall, the scenario is, when you get into the game, as I said earlier, everyone focuses on what their team wants, what the situation demands, what the conditions demand, and how they can play session by session, hour after hour, based on that. That’s what I try to focus on, without thinking about milestones. If you keep playing that way, session by session, playing against the bowlers, then your milestones will automatically happen. And if you think about milestones beforehand, if you think about the outcome, then I think, as a batter, your chances of even scoring one might be less out of ten. Maybe a maximum of one but you won’t be consistent. And at the end of the day, contributing daily for your team is also important. If you think about milestones, you won’t be able to do this, I think.
Let’s start with preparation now. Did your preparation change a bit because before the Ireland series, you went to Hathurusingha in Sydney to do one-to-one session?
The mental preparation has changed. When I went to Hathurusingha, my mental preparation was different. At that time, perhaps I knew less about many things. The question might also come up, that when he was in Bangladesh, why didn’t you do these things? Actually, because at that time, when he was here, he couldn’t give me much time. And the work I did was long-term work, one-on-one. And I always believe that one-on-one work significantly improves batters. So, after going to him, my mental preparation helped a lot.
By mental preparation, I mean, before we do anything, we think about what we want to do. Suppose you’re interviewing me today, you’re thinking about it. If I go to practice tomorrow, I’m thinking about what I’ll practice. This thought comes first and then you go and practice. So he also taught me how to do that mental preparation, and then based on that, how I would practice, how to do situation-based practice. He taught me these things. Mental preparation means identifying my weaknesses first, what areas I need to improve further so that my batting becomes even better. These mental preparations, along with field preparation including creating specific situations and practicing how to bat in them, he made me practice that there. And along with that, as a batter, I naturally prepare myself based on which bowler in the opposing team bowls what, when, and how, in each spell, what spinners bowl, and what their strengths are.
So the training session was purpose-based and not just going and batting?
No, not like that. Not like I went and batted as I wished. This was a package of mental and situation-based preparation. You have a good base prepared beforehand for how you will practice. It is not like the net session. You don’t just go and hit. We used to do earlier, and many do even now.
Mominul Haque went to Australia for a period of 22 days and practiced for 11-12 days with the coach ©BCB
Will this mental-based preparation actually vary from time to time? Will there be a variation in mental-based preparation with the conditions? For example, if you go to Australia, your mental preparation will be one way. If you go to India, it will be another way because the wicket and conditions will be different there. And if you go to South Africa, it will be different, while in Bangladesh, it will be another. Or will this mental preparation remain the same for everyone?
Your mental preparation will remain the same, no matter what conditions you play in, or against whom you play. The mindset remains the same. What you have to change then depends on the conditions.
Probably the training schedule was comprised with many sessions?
Yes, and many things have to be changed depending on the ball. I practiced there with the new and old Kookaburra ball, and the SG ball. There was also the Dukes ball. There were three types of balls. In the world, Test cricket is played with three types of balls. So, depending on those balls, I had to change my mindset. With a Kookaburra ball, for the first 30 overs, the ball will spin and swing beautifully. But after 30 overs, the ball doesn’t do much. The challenge becomes less. But with the Dukes ball and the SG ball, they keep swinging all day. So your mental preparation is different then. Then you have to decide which shot to play, which direction to play or not play if it’s swinging both ways and the same with the SG ball. So that’s also a different thing for you. So, sometimes it depends on the ball, sometimes it depends on the bowler. But your mindset remains the same, it just depends on the conditions and the bowler what you will play.
Have you added any new shot, something you do now that you didn’t do before?
What has happened is, truly, after going there, I feel that I can now bat with control. So I won’t say that I added a new shot. Nothing like that has happened. I’ll say that after going there I’ve gained some mastery over batting with control. So day by day, it needs to improve further. This is not the end and it will develop even more in this area. I’m thinking about that controlled batting. That ability to bat with control has improved compared to before.
One thing is, in our part of the country, very few people go for this kind of training. This is actually a decision when I heard you say you would go, practice, observe. “I will spend money and practice.” This was a matter of decision. Making this decision is also a big deal. Because usually, what do we do?
I’ve been playing for the Bangladesh national team for 12-13 years. So, on every tour I go on, especially abroad, I see that their facilities are very high-level. And the way their cricketers practice, it’s very different from ours. So every time we go, we come back disappointed. We try to find answers ourselves, try to figure out what the problems are, but we never find any answers. And when I come back to Bangladesh, I see that we don’t have those facilities here. Forget facilities, we don’t even have pace bowlers of the same quality as those international bowlers I face there. Spinners might be okay, but as a batter, I mostly face pace bowlers away from home. We don’t have pace bowlers of that quality in our country.
To be honest, another thing, which might sound bad, is that in our country, I feel like I only bat against top-quality bowlers two to three days before a series starts. That’s the only time I get. And sometimes, when there’s a camp, the Bangladesh team’s pace bowlers aren’t there, because they’re busy with other games, ODIs and T20Is. Especially for those of us who play Test cricket, like Shadman [Islam] and me, it becomes very challenging. Because when I play a Test match after few months, I have no preparation in between. My only preparation is mental preparation. You can’t get ahead in life with just mental preparation. You need physical preparation too. The connection between bat and ball, that’s necessary. And you definitely need similar bowlers to play against. We don’t get those bowlers, and we don’t have the pitches either.
So, I had been thinking for a long time about how to move forward with this. For the last two-three years, while thinking about this, I looked around in many places. I once thought about going to South Africa and India. After the India series, that I scored a hundred in, I communicated with former Bangladesh coach Sridharan Sriram. I contacted him to ask if I could practice with him. But they are so busy, they can’t. So, I contacted another coach in India. He couldn’t as well. All the Indian coaches are very busy, they can’t. So, I thought, what should I do now? Then I tried South African coaches. But a South African visa takes one and a half to two months. I’ve been trying this for a long time because I don’t want to stay where I am. I want to improve myself, even if it’s just 2%. I even discussed it with Shakib Bhai [Shakib al Hasan] once. I told Shakib Bhai, “If we want to improve, what should we do?” He said, “If you stay in Bangladesh and practice with these facilities, you’ll never be able to improve. If you want to take yourself higher, then go abroad. Practice somewhere abroad.” So I tried to follow his advice. Considering that, I decided that I’d go to Australia.
Another reason for going to Australia was that I knew, I was a bit confused before going. I was confused because when I was going, there was no chance for outdoor practice there. It was winter then. And the coach there was Hathurusingha. One reason to go to him was that he had been with us, with me and our Bangladesh team, for five years. He understands our mental psychology, our thoughts, everything. And another thing is that he is also an Asian. Our discussions, everything, we have a lot in common, and most importantly, he knows us. Thinking about this, I decided, “If I go, I’ll go there. Whatever is in my fate will happen. At least if I can improve a little, that will be enough for me.”
I practiced in Sydney, in an indoor facility in New South Wales.
What was the whole day like?
My routine was that I would go around 9 or 10 in the morning. He would book the practice session two or three days in advance. Their facilities are so good that if you don’t book a week in advance, you can’t get it. So he would book for two hours with me. So he would work with me for two hours. Some days two hours, some days one or one and a half hours. At most I would go for two hours. This was what I did, just practice. I was there for 22 days. I practiced for 11 or 12 days. And it’s not possible to practice daily. I was there for 22 days; within those 22 days, I did it for 11 or 12 days. I would take a gap every other day. And I visited various places – all the good places in Sydney.
You had some issues with Hathurusingha not in this tenure but the previous one and you were demoted to number eight in one Test match? Those things ever came to your mind?
Those things don’t come to my mind anymore. That time has passed from my mind. If that trouble hadn’t happened, my batting might have remained at the same level. So I wouldn’t have improved myself. So that thing actually helped me, what he did with me at that time. I think that way, I’m thinking positively. Now, suppose you have a disagreement, a bit of a dispute with someone, especially in sports, but if going to him benefits you, gives you an advantage, then why wouldn’t I go to him?