Bangladesh v England: Adil Rashid previews the forthcoming ODI series
Thursday 6 October 2016 14:37, UK
Adil Rashid talks challenging conditions, Jos Buttler's captaincy and "feisty" FIFA tournaments in his first Bangladesh tour blog.
After all the talk, it's good to get out to Bangladesh. Coming here is something new for a lot of the lads. It's a new experience as well with the weather conditions and the whole atmosphere. I think everyone is looking forward to it. It should be a good tour ahead and hopefully we can do well.
We had our first tour match on Tuesday in tricky conditions. It was very challenging, it was 40-odd degrees and the humidity was fairly high as well but we have to get used to it fairly quickly. It was completely different conditions for us but, at the same time, it was enjoyable and we're looking forward to the next two weeks or so.
Obviously, the game was also Jos Buttler's first here as captain and I think he'll be very similar to Eoin Morgan: a very positive, very aggressive captain, always looking to take the aggressive, positive option.
He went very well on Tuesday, both as a batsman and with his 'keeping. His captaincy was good too but in games like that it is hard to tell, it's more about bowlers getting overs under their belt so he was forced to rotate.
I definitely think he will lead by example but then whatever is on his mind, he is going to say too. When he talks everybody is going to listen because when he does talk, he talks a lot of sense and with a lot of maturity.
He is a very positive character in the way he speaks and the way he goes about his cricket. I think he'll be a great leader for us in this one-day series. I think he'll do exceptionally well. He has a strong mind-set and, like I said, he's a positive character.
Personally, coming to these places with conditions like these where people say it favours the spinners, it's about enjoying that challenge and trying to embrace it. Firstly, you've got to adapt to the conditions and then try to really enjoy it.
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It is going to be a challenge as well because we'll be bowling to good players of spin, who have been brought up playing spin but I'm just looking to enjoy the craft of bowling leg-spin in these conditions and finding a way to succeed out here.
Every country you go to you have to adapt and bowl a bit differently, bowl different paces or whatever and it's the same out here. You have to find that pace and you have to find it pretty quickly. It's exciting and I'm really looking forward to it.
In general, whether things are going my way or not, I try to have a positive attitude but since the Big Bash last winter - that went pretty well for me - and the ODI series with Sri Lanka and Pakistan, things have gone well for me with England, with the white ball.
Whether I perform or not, I'm confident in my skills and my ability. It's about going out there and having fun; if you have a good day, you have a good day, if not, it isn't something to worry about. You have good days, you have bad days and that is just part of cricket. At the moment, I'm fairly confident in my game and hopefully I can just carry on like that.
Away from the cricket, we've been here for four or five days and so far we've not been out of the hotel in the evenings. The only place we've been to so far is to the ground and back. There is a lot of free time and so we've been playing a lot of FIFA. Some of the lads have brought their Xbox's and their PS4s with FIFA 17 so there has been a lot of competitions, a lot of banter and a lot of feisty people!
There are a lot of jokes flying around and that is keeping us going. In the evenings we'll all go to somebody's room - it has been Sam Billings' so far - and stay there for a couple of hours, have a few games and a bit of a laugh with all the boys.
I would say I'm okay but there are some who think they're pretty good. Billings actually thinks he's a big dog when it comes to FIFA but he has his ups and downs. There are a few who are pretty good but I hold my own.
I'm sure the competitions will continue throughout the tour but, of course, our main focus is the cricket, starting with the first ODI on Friday.
