Fizz-less lineup a defensive one
In the 62nd over of the first day of the second Test, West Indies pacer Kemar Roach nearly caught Shakib Al Hasan off his own bowling as the Bangladesh skipper played early to a cutter that stopped a touch off the pitch.
On a slow Mirpur wicket, there was enough to interest the two pacers that West Indies had picked as Roach and Sherman Lewis combined to bowl 27 overs of the 90 bowled in the day, conceding 73 runs for two wickets -- hardly figures that hint at a pacers' graveyard.
On the contrary, a Mirpur pitch on which the batsmen are not sure of the pace at which the ball will come at them brings to mind a bowler named Mustafizur Rahman, whose well-disguised cutters are tailor-made for such conditions.
Not in this Test, however, as Mustafizur will be cooling his heels in the dressing room after bowling just four overs in the first Test in Chattogram. Yesterday, Bangladesh picked a Test eleven without a single specialist pace bowler in the line-up for the first time in their Test history. With no seamer in the side, Shakib's words on the eve of the Test that they would be looking to win the Test in order to earn a 2-0 whitewash rings hollow.
Mustafizur was not dropped to accommodate another spinner; instead, Liton Das came in as a wicketkeeper-batsman at number eight. Picking an eighth batsman in place of the one bowler who would have lent the attack a measure of variety does not reflect an attacking mindset, but a draw-at-all-costs outlook of a side that has not won a Test series since 2014.
In itself, a defensive approach when the team are 1-0 up is nothing remarkable and may even be called practical, but the execution of that intent raises questions about how much faith the cricketers and the team management have in their abilities.
To the first point, it is safe to say that if a team needs an eighth batsman to fish them out of trouble then they are in no position to bat the opposition out of the game, which is presumably how they would get to the safety-first target of not losing the game.
A number eight batsman can only be of real value in the event of adding a few runs after a batting collapse. Budgeting for failure is the more likely thought process of a side that bats its best batsman, Mushfiqur Rahim, at number six and one that, in ending the first day on 259 for five yesterday, crossed 200 for just the fifth time in 15 innings this year.
The bigger concern over the longer term is whether the decision makers have a proper understanding of the value a pacer, and especially one of Mustafizur's multidimensional abilities, brings to the side.
In the event that West Indies build a partnership in the middle of the innings and they get the measure of the spin attack on a pitch where the turn is slower and more forgiving than it was in Chattogram, a bowler who can bowl reverse swing will be missed. In this Test, Shakib will have to settle for the gentle part-time medium pace of Soumya Sarkar.
Even if Bangladesh bowl well when West Indies eventually bat, the larger point is that they have foregone a wicket-taking option for the ultra-safe measure of an extra batsman against a side missing their main strike force in Shannon Gabriel.
Bangladesh have a pace legend in Courtney Walsh as a bowling coach, and before the toss yesterday he told TV cameras that it was unlikely that he would have much to do in this Test. With the pacers' lack of match practice, however, it is likely that he will have too much to do when the Tigers head to New Zealand.
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