Grit required
The West Indies side arrive here today from the UAE with a 19-member Test and ODI squad to play a T20 international, three ODIs and two Tests against Bangladesh from October 11 to November 2. Five more players who are currently involved in the Champions League T20 in India are likely to join the squad tomorrow.
The series comes with the promise of good results as well as a cautionary tale. That tale should be fresh in every Bangladesh supporter's mind -- the 58 all out in the World Cup at home earlier this year against the same opponents in their last international meeting. There is reason for hope as the West Indies are set to come here with a side missing the class of the likes of Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, thus considerably weakening their batting. But it may be wiser to focus on the cautionary tale instead of getting carried away with the tourists' supposed weakness.
Though West Indies appear depleted in the batting stakes, the suit that caused Bangladesh the most grief is still intact and in sufficiently good health to cause trouble once more. In the World Cup encounter, ten Bangladeshi wickets were shared by three bowlers -- the high pace of Kemar Roach, the accurate medium pace of captain Darren Sammy, and the left arm spin of Sulieman Benn.
In the squad set to tour Bangladesh, Roach and Sammy are there, and with them will be fast bowlers Ravi Rampaul and Andre Russell, while Benn's place goes to the massively impressive young leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo. Batting against them will not be any easier than it was in March.
Seven months on from that debacle, the Tigers have gone to Zimbabwe and lost both the one-off Test and the ODI series, and the captain who was supposed to lead the team into a new era, Shakib Al Hasan, has been sacked.
Under new skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and a new coach in Australian Stuart Law, the intent should now not be what it was in March, when the Tigers seemed not to have any coherent plans beyond their biff-bang batting approach. The Tigers will do well to target this Windies series as their next turning point. There are possibilities of something special if the cricketers have learnt anything from their cautionary tale. This turnaround should not focus as much on the ODIs as on the two Tests that follow. It is in the longest version of the game where the Tigers' competence faces the harshest questions, and even a drawn series will do wonders for their credibility.
Be it in Tests or ODIs, the problems faced are similar: a general unwillingness to guts it out and get through the tough times to enjoy the fruits of patience.
This is in no way limited to their batting; this same problem in the bowling department cost them dearly in the Test in Zimbabwe where bowlers, with the exception of Robiul Islam, strayed from a good line and length when wickets were not forthcoming. In Test matches especially, the ability of bowling sides to create pressure and sustain it is a cornerstone of good teams.
Now is the best time for the Tigers to grasp this ability, because if they can avoid their batting debacles, a weakened West Indies batting line-up may falter, especially given their known weakness against spin bowling on helpful tracks. The smattering of Bangladesh victories have mostly been borne on sparkles of talent. It is now time to adopt the virtues of grit, else come November 2 fans will once again be ruing an opportunity missed.
Comments