Faltering sides set to face off
Bangladesh's home Test season will enter the business end tomorrow when the hosts take on West Indies in the first Test at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. There will be many subplots for each team, not least that of revenge for Bangladesh for being hammered into submission in West Indies in July this year.
Both teams will be looking to get their Test cricket on the right track after some disappointing returns in their last assignments. While the most vivid memory of Bangladesh's Test cricket is of their 218-run win over Zimbabwe last week, all it did was square a home series Bangladesh were expected to win with some ease. Meanwhile, West Indies may draw a lot of confidence from their 2-0 whitewash of Bangladesh in the Caribbean but their most recent foray in the longer version ended in abject defeat in India, where they could not take either match into the fourth day.
The scene, therefore, is set for two uncertain Test teams squaring off tomorrow at 9:30am, but it is quite certain that the conditions will not be the same as the ones they encountered when they last faced off in Kingston, Jamaica. Memories of West Indies' pace threat is very likely to influence the Bangladesh team management to opt for a benign wicket at a venue that is historically batsman-friendly. If they were feeling adventurous, the hosts will have asked for a spin-friendly wicket to exploit the visitors' well-documented weakness against spin.
Bangladesh will be boosted by the return of Test captain, all-rounder and lead spinner Shakib Al Hasan. Shakib missed the entirety of the Zimbabwe series because of a lingering injury to his left little finger and only started batting at the beginning of the week against all types of bowling.
The hosts, however, will continue to be hampered by the absence of star opener Tamim Iqbal, whose return to the side after suffering a left knuckle fracture during September's Asia Cup was delayed by a side strain last week. In Tamim's continued absence and with Liton Das -- one of the openers in the Zimbabwe Tests -- dropped from the squad, there will be change at the top. Soumya Sarkar -- on the back of a run-filled National Cricket League (NCL) season and a 78 for BCB XI in the warm-up match against West Indians -- is expected to play his first Test since the second one against South Africa in October 2017, but it is the identity of his partner that is of more interest. The highest scorer in the NCL, 23-year-old left-hander Shadman Islam, was drafted into the squad after hitting a patient 73 in the warm-up game on Monday. Given the interest head coach Steve Rhodes showed in the youngster during yesterday's optional training, he may make his debut tomorrow in place of Imrul Kayes -- who despite his stellar ODI form has failed to score more than 43 in his last 20 Test innings.
There is one other contentious spot and that is between batting all-rounder Ariful Haque, who can bowl medium pace and had batted well in the Sylhet Test against Zimbabwe, and fast bowler Khaled Ahmed -- who impressed on debut against Zimbabwe in the second Test but remained wicketless as three chances were dropped off his bowling. Shakib's return gives the team flexibility, and the final call may depend on the state of the wicket and whether the team management opts for the extra batsman at number eight in Ariful or a genuine bowler in Khaled.
West Indies, on the other hand, will miss out on the services of regular captain Jason Holder, who has also been in prime bowling form, because of an injury sustained just before the start of the tour. They will be looking for runs from the likes of stand-in captain Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Roston Chase and the talented Shimron Hetmyer. As for the bowling, the tried and tested pace barrage will be their go-to strategy and leading the charge will be Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach, with leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo expected to exploit the prevailing conditions.
On the one hand, West Indies' poor performance in similar conditions in India may give Bangladesh the edge. However, Bangladesh's record of eight consecutive sub-200 Test innings before the batsmen struck form in the second Test against Zimbabwe is far from reassuring. It remains to be seen whether that was the exception or a new beginning, and until then tomorrow's battle is one between two flawed, faltering sides looking for the ascendancy.