Before the start of the series deciding second Test against Sri Lanka at Dhaka, BCB has just announced squads for the complete tour program to West Indies.
Bangladesh will play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is on their tour to the Caribbean that starts next month. The test series is part of ICC Test Championship but ODI series is not part of ICC ODI league.
The highlights of the squads are mainstay of Bangladesh batting Mushfiqur Rahim given leave of absence for performing pilgrimage and cutter master Mustafizur Rahman agreeing to play in the test series in addition to ODI and T20 series. The other features are return of experienced Anamul Haq Bijoy to ODI and T20 after three years following his prolific form in domestic cricket. All-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin was due to return anyway after recovering from injury. Leading all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will play in all formats. Mosaddek Hossain and Nurul Hasan Sohan are also included in all three squads. Tamim will not play in T20 and Mahmudullah will not be there in test. Shoriful Islam and Naeem Islam are missing the tour for injuries. Taskin Ahmed and Mehedi Miraj will appear in ODI series only.
Test Squad: Mominul Haque (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das (Wicket Keeper), Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafiqur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan (Wicket Keeper), Mosaddek Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Shohidul Islam, Rezaur Rahman Raja
ODI Squad: Tamim Iqbal (Captain), Litton Das (Wicket Keeper), Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Yasir Ali, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan (Wicket Keeper), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Ebadot Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Anamul Haque
T20I Squad: Mahmudullah Riad (Captain), Munim Shahriar, Litton Das (Wicket Keeper), Anamul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan (Wicket Keeper), Yasir Ali, Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Shohidul Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin
ICC Ranking Of Bangladesh and West Indies:
We know form matters, ranking is often misleading.. West Indies and Bangladesh ranking in three formats are very close now. Outcome of the series can definitely change
ICC Ranking Across Formats
Formats Bangladesh West Indies
Test 9th 8th
ODI 7th 9th
T20 8th 7th
Bangladesh has already qualified for ICC T20 Championship 2022 in Australia.. The outcome of this series would not matter there. But nevertheless, it will be an ideal practice opportunity. Neither Bangladesh nor West Indies has any opportunity for reaching the final Test Championship yet the outcome of the two bottom dogs would matter. The most important of the all above would be ODI series. Teams need to stay within 8th for playing directly in ICC world cup 2023 in India.
Test Series:
Bangladesh test team is not in good shape at this moment. After getting whitewashed by strong Pakistan at home in the end 2021 Bangladesh started 2022 with a big bang surprising world champions New Zealand in New Zealand. But since then it lost big to New Zealand in the other tests, got blown away by the second string South Africa on tour and just a few days back lost to Sri Lanka at home. First choice pace bowlers Taskin and Shoriful are nursing injuries. Cutter Master Mustafizur Rahman reluctant for playing red ball cricket could be persuaded for playing. Ebadat Hossain, Khaled Ahmed, Shohidul Islam , and Reazur Rahman are mostly untested at this level. Hope Bangladesh team management manages workloads of the pacers. Mustafiz will be back after a while. He is the main hope of Bangladesh in absence of Taskin and Shoriful for white ball cricket. Hope he remains injury free as he may be asked to feature in all three series.
In West Indies for the test Bangladesh's spin attack will also be thin. Shakib and Taijul are the only two specialist spinners. A quality off spinner will be missed. Mosaddeq proved useless in Dhaka test. We only know Bangladesh does not have a plan in place for a leg spinner considered essential by all other test squads. Hence Bangladesh test squad is under resourced as far is bowling is concerned.
As far as batting we must say that batting let Bangladesh down mostly in the recent test series. Top-order proved clueless against spin and pace alike whether on tour or at its own grounds. Still, there is no option but to rely on Tamim and Joy to open the innings. There is no genuine third opener in the team. Selectors did not consider it prudent to include experienced Anamul Haq Bijoy for inclusion in the Test squad. Format for such an experienced batter matters little. He is there in ODI and T20 squad. He must be included in the test squad. Especially in the absence of Mushfiqur Rahim granted leave of absence for personal reasons Bijoy will add experience and depth to the batting unit. I do not think Shanto experiment at number three has worked.
Bangladesh must review the batting order. Mominul should be back at number three and Yasir Ali may be slotted at four. Litton is in the form of his life. But he bats a bit too low. He should bat at five, Shakib at six. I will recommend to include Nurul Hasan Sohan batting at seven and donning the gloves behind the wicket. Litton should be relieved from keeping duty for tests for better output from his batting. If there is an opportunity left at least two more additional batters should be added to test squad. Why not Saifuddin included in the test squad? That will create options for bowling as well as give depth to batting.
Bangladesh will have to bat extremely well against a much better and stronger pace as well spin-bowling unit of West Indies. Khemar Roach, Shanon Gabriel, Jason Holder are much better than Sri Lankan rookies. The present West Indies team is much stronger than what whitewashed Bangladesh in the last encounter in Bangladesh.
Now coming back to two tests back to back. Bangladesh for lack of experience in competitive test cricket lasting over 5 days looks like a novice on day five of test matches due to mental fatigue. The last three tests lose evidence of that. Why Bangladesh could not schedule the test matches later in the tour? Resources in the team are very limited. The absence of Mushfiq will be keenly felt. Mahmudullah Riad is still being missed. Hope the team does not experience further causalities.
BCB boss often says other than Shakib every player has a replacement. Where are those replacements?
Will analyze and preview ODI and T20 series separately.
BDST: 1729 HRS, May 29 2022
MSK
