Want to keep Rubel fit for ODIs, Bangla coach defends decision

Even after failing to take a single Indian wicket on Day 1 of the one-off Test, Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha today defended the team management's decision of not including pacer Rubel Hossain in the playing XI on the pretext of keeping him fit of the ODIs.
Electing to bat, India finished the rain-hit day on 239 for no loss with Shikhar Dhawan (150 not out) and Murali Vijay 89 not out) blunting the Bangladesh attack, which consists of four specialist spinners in Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam, Jubair Hossain and Shuvagata Hom.
"Rubel's thing is that he is coming after an injury and is not hundred per cent. The other reason is that this wicket, we thought that if Rubel has to play and has to bowl a lot then there is a chance of a recurrence of his injury because he didn't get a chance to play practice matches," the coach said at the end of first day's play here.

"Not that he is not fit, he is not to fit to bowl on this kind of a wicket because you need a lot of effort to bowl on this kind of a wicket to be successful. If the wicket was helping fast bowlers, we could have gone in a different way."
Hathurusingha insisted that it was better to preserve Rubel for the three-match ODI series rather than playing him on this kind of a pitch.
"The reason to pick the spinners is again because of the condition of the wicket. The other thing is having a variety of spinners taking the Indian team's history for last few series. A few off spinners have been successful against them.

"We cannot control the Indian strength, what we can control is what we do with our resources. Rubel, we are keeping him for the One-days. It is very crucial for us to win the ODIs, knowing that if we win at least one game, we have a chance of qualifying for the Champions Trophy. So if the condition was different, we would have played another seamer," Hathurusingha explained.

The Sri Lankan clarified that the team was picked after looking at the wicket.
"The plan was to pick the team we thought was good for the wicket and according to our strength. I think we created enough chances, but few things didn't go our way. Had we taken those opportunities, it would have been a different story.

"We have made progress in a lot of ways. At this stage, we are playing with one fast bowler because of the condition, not that we have not progressed. Sometime we were limited in certain ways," said Hathurusingha.