Saleque Sufi

In the midst of a long season, Bangladesh cricket team is poised for two back to back bilateral series against lower rated Zimbabwe and West Indies.

Two key members of the fabulous five ( Mashrafe, Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah) providing wonderful services in the resurgence of Bangladesh cricket are out of contention, two others have injuries of some extent and the fifth who always brave his injuries is also not hundred percent fit. Logical questions are being asked now whether Bangladesh can compete well against lower rated Zimbabwe and West Indies at home in two back to back bilateral series without services of two of its faithful server’s, world class performers Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. Prolific Tamim is one of the main stays in Bangladesh batting, Shakib is among the leading all rounders’ in all formats of the game. Both are nursing injuries of different categories and are likely missing both the series.

Can the players stepping into the shoes of Shakib and Tamim tweet on time? Can Bangladesh redeem?

Zimbabwe and West Indies are placed lower than Bangladesh in ODI format. Wins against them will not add much but loss would hurt Bangladesh. Enigmatic Mashrafe would lead a reasonably strong team against Zimbabwe in the ODI series, Mahmudullah would be captain against Zimbabwe in the T20I and Tests. There is an outside chance of Shakib returning against West Indies. We are not sure whether it will be worth risking especially with ICC world cup 2019 knocking on the door. Bangladesh, in the recent past in Asia Cup almost won it playing without Shakib and Tamim. Unfortunately team Tigers choked once more against their formidable foe India. Hope Mashrafe squad learnt a few lessons from the hurt burns. We are not going to discuss that Bangladesh players never gets any benefit of doubts of 50:50 situation against India. Few cases in the recent past could reverse if some key decisions came our way. But if you ask some biased experts they would say these are the part of the game. Anyway Bangladesh has to deal with hard reality. Tamim's absence will create significant problem in presenting a competent opening pair. Even with Tamim there providing the backbone of Bangladesh batting the team was struggling finding a consistent performer opening the innings with him. Anamul, Soumya, Imrul, Litton all had their turns, but none proved consistent enough to rely on longer terms. In recent past Litton has just started blooming. But he has still to go a long way to establish himself in the position. Soumya has been given repeated opportunities which he wasted. Anamul also failed to fulfill his promises. In such situation Kayes appears the likely candidate for opening the batting with Litton in all formats against Zimbabwe. Mohammad Mithun may also be considered for opening. If he does so Kayes can bat either at three or five to steady the middle order which would obviously suffer from the absence of prolific Shakib. Number three position is very important in all formats of the game. In Test little Mominul is an assured performer. But unfortunately he was not utilized with imagination at all in ODI and T20I. His confidence appears to be rocked in limited over formats of the game. Another highly talented batsman Nazmul Hasan Shanto is yet to prove his huge potential in international level. In such situation Bangladesh can consider playing Mahmudullah at number three as inclusion of Ariful and Saifuddin would provide considerable depth in the lower middle order. Mehedi Miraz has also started finding his touch with the bat. In any case in absence of Tamim and Shakib, the role of Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah has grown bigger. They do not only have to anchor the Bangladesh batting but also have to inspire enthusiasm among the compatriots. Two M’s now have another two M’s in Mithun and Mehedi Miraz going with them to bolster Bangladesh batting. Brave Mashrafe often use long handle making useful contributions. I do not think scoring 280 -300 consistently in ODI against Zimbabwe and West Indies in ODI in Bangladesh would be that difficult for even the depleted Bangladesh team. If that happens there is no reason why Bangladesh with very strong all round attack – pace battery Mashrafe , Mustafiz , Rubel ( Saifuddin and Ariful ) and quality spin attack of Miraz and Nazmul Apu can not white wash the opponents. In T20I and Tests Bangladesh must review domestic resources. Some experienced players like Tushar Imran, Naeem ul Islam and some new comers are doing consistently well in domestic cricket. Even Mohammad Ashraful is now available for selection. We are not aware of his fitness now as he has not appeared in domestic cricket this season yet. Ashraful at number three or even at opening, if found fit would be extremely useful. It will be interesting to observe what kind of surface Bangladesh produces for the two series. Obviously Test wickets will be assisting spin. But in ODI and T20Is wickets should assist pacers as well. Bangladesh has well established pace attack now. Mashrafe as always is a consistent performer. Mustafiz appears to have recovered his subtle magic. Rubel is bowling at pace and unleashing. Saifuddin, Rabbi would require pacey wickets to prove their quality. Miraz and Apu would also like some pace and bounce from the wicket. Bangladesh can afford to experiment with one or two players in the upcoming series for developing a winning squad for ICC world cup. We must remember that winning the series or even white washing Zimbabwe won’t bring much benefit for Bangladesh but losing even a single match would hurt. Against West Indies we have to prove that in Test we are also changing. That nightmare experience in Test against West Indies must not haunt Tigers.