Out of the box, out of the game
One cannot say that the Bangladesh team management have not tried anything out of the box in the one-off Test match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram against Afghanistan, who are playing just their third Test match.
Chasing a humongous target of 398 runs, the Tigers' think tank opted to go with a left- and right-hand combination in the middle of the Test match with the intention to unsettling the opposition bowlers.
Bangladesh opened the innings with two left-handers in Shadman Islam and Soumya Sarkar in the first innings and as the strategy did not work, skipper Shakib Al Hasan decided to have the famous right-left combination by promoting Liton Das in place of Soumya to open in the second innings.
Bangladesh stuck to their guns about not sticking to their guns -- if that seems oxymoronic, you don't know what out of the box means -- after Liton was dismissed and to everyone's surprise, out strode Mosaddek Hossain at number three.
Mosaddek never batted above number seven in his career so far, but because he was a right-hander and scored 48 runs in the first innings, the think tank thought it would work for the home side despite having a specialist number three batsman in the form of Mominul Haque.
Mosaddek was the next to depart as the strategy continued for the Tigers, as the right-handed Mushfiqur Rahim joined Shadman at number five to negotiate the likes of leg-spinner Rashid Khan, Qais Ahmed and chinaman bowler Zahir Khan.
It is well known that Bangladesh batsmen are happier dealing with conventional finger-spin than the wrist spin purveyed by those just mentioned, and maybe the right-left combination was implemented to unsettle the bowlers.
Never mind that it has always been said by those who have played the game that Test cricket requires specialists -- in other words batsmen who are used to batting in certain positions and therefore more adept at dictating proceedings in those stages of the game. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and being asked to score 398 runs to win a Test against the newest Test members or, more realistically, having to bat out more than a day to escape with a draw is a suitably desperate situation.
Many were convinced that Mahmudullah Riyad, Mehedi Hasan Miraz or even Nayeem Hasan may come out to bat ahead of Mominul, Soumya and even Shakib due if the right-hander was dismissed.
But disappointingly, the Bangladesh think tank finally backed out of their innovation after Mushfiqur Rahim got out as Mominul joined Shadman at number six.
There may be some scoffing at the shuffle, but it is rooted in sound Tiger logic. It is an age-old trope of Bangladesh teams, be it in Test or limited-overs cricket, that when they are bowling against left-handers a right-arm off-spinner must be bowling, and when it's a right-hander, a left-arm spinner (don't even mention leg-spin) has to bowl. Such is the devotion to this strategy that it takes precedence over all else -- match situation and strength of bowler included. Is it Bangladesh's fault that even newcomers like Afghanistan are not similarly affected by the style of batsmen? They failed to be confused by Bangladesh's googlies; they instead relied on their own strengths. That is not in Bangladesh's playbook.
In their 115th Test, Bangladesh are about to lose to a team playing their third. While that may be a humiliating defeat at home, one certainly cannot say that the Tigers did not think out of the box.
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