DHAKA: When the second of the two test Bangladesh Australia series starts tomorrow the visitors would be desperate about winning and squaring the series. It is never in Australian psyche playing safe and avoiding defeat. They will rather go all out for winning and loose than grind and graft for dull dreary drab drawn match to avoid series white wash. This is the situation Bangladesh must exploit . What appeared from post mortem of Dhaka test that though the wicket turned very early and had uneven bounce yet was not impossible to bat. Tamim played two quality innings, Shakib looked superb in the first innings, Warner scored century. Bangladesh had better spinners to exploit the wicket, Australia did not .Australia did not have the batsmen to counter sharp turning deliveries on wickets of uneven bounce. They were at least 3-4 batsmen short. We are not sure how they would recover. Definitely they won’t want a series white wash before all important ashes against strong England.
Bangladesh does not need to do anything extraordinary. Wicket is expected to be almost the same. Last and the only time when Australians played there Jason Gillespie “Dizzy” coming as night watchman had his famous double century which my Aussie friends reminded me ever since .But this Bangladesh is a new team hungry for success like the Australians. O’Keeffe coming in as replacement of injured Hazlewood would walk into the team. Him and Llyon combination may create difficult chemistry of Australian bowling combination. Bangladesh must reshape its top and late middle order. It is almost a popular choice that talented Mominul should get his spot back in the top order. In that situation the unfortunate casualty would be Imrul Kayes. Soumya will survive in all probability for his contributions in the field. But he must be mentored to bat with patience and according to the merit of each delivery. Another change I would suggest bring in Mosaddeq in place of one seamer and slotting him at number six. He is a quality batsman. He will also provide additional spinning option. On such wicket unless express fast pace bowlers have no opportunity. Taskin may come into consideration. The sort of form Shakib is in he will be unstoppable on turning wickets. He has already become a panic in Australian camp. Mehedy and Taijul also bowled exceptionally well pitching the ball on the right spot. The only weakness was dropping few catches at important stages of the match. Fortunately, Australian batsmen could reap rich harvest out of them.
One point must be mentioned here Bangladesh did not bat well as a team. Tamim was magnificent in both innings holding the innings together with excellent skills , Shakib and Mushfique produce one good innings. Rest of the batting was pretty ordinary . We must not expect that Tamim will always do that or Shakib and Mushfique have to be always relieved upon. One or two other batsmen must contribute. If these happen from the momentum achieved Bangladesh must go ahead and achieve series white wash. If that happens what a morale booster it would be before another important South Africa tour.
BDST: 1905 HRS, SEP 03, 2017
EHJ
