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Out of pollution and into the eye of the storm

Abdullah Al Mehdi from Rajkot
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. That is pretty much the outlook for the Bangladesh team, who conquered the smog and a strong Indian outfit in Delhi only to find themselves going into a cyclonic storm named Maha, expected to make landfall between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Despite the ominous storm, Saurashtra Cricket Association secretary Himangshu Saha said that there was not much to be worried about and that everything was progressing as scheduled.
The Bangladesh team, gelling well under Mahmudullah Riyad, were in spirited mood - sunny skies played a part in that after the gloom in Delhi -- during practice at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium yesterday. The cricketers underwent a light warm-up before proceeding to some fielding exercises with spin consultant Daniel Vettori surprisingly overseeing the session in the presence of head coach Russell Domingo and fielding coach Ryan Cook.
The Tigers had put in a brilliant fielding effort in the first game but the team's think-tank wanted to maintain standards on the field. Vettori put two boards on each side of a chair and angled throws onto them while setting up fielders in a circle to mimic the 30-yard inner ring. The ball ran amok through the ground after impact with the boards and kept the fielders on their toes.
Following the fielding workout, the players left for net sessions. When this reporter left to watch the net session, he found that the pace battery of Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain and Shafiul Islam were following bowling coach Charles Langeveldt out of the net area, apparently skipping the session.
On passing the reporters, Langeveldt was posed a question about what Rajkot was like. "Out of the pollution," he smiled. When reminded about the oncoming cyclone, he laughed and said: "Oh, now the cyclone".
Mustafizur proceeded to joke with a Bangladeshi reporter before poking him in his ample midriff.
The small army of pacers gathered along with Langeveldt in the ground and bowled for a while on one of the centre wickets. Overall, the Tigers were relaxed.
"The environment is pretty good in the dressing room and we are preparing for the next match," Afif Hossain said in a press conference yesterday. Mahmudullah had transformed his team pretty well, following weeks of upheaval in Bangladesh cricket. Asked about their electric fielding and the captain's message, Afif informed: "Captain's message was that 'do what you are doing best' and 'we play as a unit'."
Mahmudullah had led the way with his own body language on the field.
"It was our plan to be aggressive on the field," Afif
remarked. The Tigers had talked about a fearless approach and Afif once again reiterated that despite winning the first T20I, they were not thinking of winning the series. A level of maturity was shown in the last T20I that is not usually associated with the Tigers' T20I play. Afif once again remarked that the Tigers were taking things slow.
"We're not planning on winning or losing the series yet, we are just focusing on what we have to do. We can only perform at our best and after that whatever happens will happen," Afif remarked.