Tigers’ spin ploy yet to bear fruit

It was anticipated that the one-off Test between Bangladesh and Afghanistan would be a battle between the spinners of both sides and that seemed to be what was in store when Tigers' skipper Shakib Al Hasan opted for an all-spin attack.

After the first day Afghanistan, playing just their third Test match, were the happier team courtesy of Rahmat Shah, who became his country's first Test centurion, and Asghar Afghan's unbeaten 88 as the visitors posted 271 for five at stumps yesterday.

With the aim being to outplay the opposition with spin, the home side were desperately hoping for assistance from the pitch at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) in Chattogram, where Shakib gambled on winning the toss and batting first.

But luck did not favour the hosts as Rashid Khan won the toss and expectedly opted to bat. There was then not much of a threat from a Bangladesh spin department that has less variety when compared to Afghanistan's wide range of spinners in leg-spinners like Rashid Khan, Qais Ahmed, chinaman bowler Zahir Khan and off-spinner Mohammad Nabi.

While an all-spin attack may seem unusual, it is now the second consecutive home Test that Bangladesh have opted for the strategy, with the second Test against West Indies last year, which they won by an innings and 184 runs, also being devoid of home pacers.

One could criticise the tactic but the team management recognized the reality of not having any express seamer who could trouble batsmen regardless of pitch and conditions.

But things did not go in Bangladesh's favour as the likes of Shakib, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Nayeem Hasan -- all conventional spinners -- mostly rely on help from the pitch and so tried to bowl in good areas as there was no real help from the pitch throughout the first day.

However, the first session belonged to the Tigers courtesy of some tight bowling from Taijul, who provided the first breakthrough by dismissing Ihsanullah and then scalped Ibrahim Zadran courtesy of slight turn. Mahmudullah Riyad picked the third wicket of Hashmatullah Shahidi just before lunch, raising hopes of Bangladesh turning the screw on their less experienced opponents in the second session.

But due to a lack of diversity in the bowling line-up and the absence of substantial purchase from the pitch despite some odd deliveries keeping low, the spinners looked helpless in the second session. Credit must also be given to the two Afghan batters Rahmat and Asghar for their composed, judicious run-scoring.

Both made sure they covered the line of the ball and also took big strides to negate whatever spin was on offer and started to score freely.

Shakib used as many as eight bowlers, which included seven spinners along with Soumya Sarkar's medium pace, but they were all largely ineffective due to an unresponsive pitch.

It was young Nayeem who, because of his height, had some sort of variation in his off spin and had the batsmen in two minds because of his extra bounce. He brought Bangladesh back into the game with two wickets in the 70th over, including centurion Rahmat off a loose shot immediately after the right-hander brought up the landmark.

It will be interesting to see how the pitch behaves in the coming days, but for Bangladesh it is almost proven that even the spinners -- considered the main weapon in Tests -- are handicapped without the help from the pitch.

It seemed to be a simple assignment against the newest Test team, but on the evidence of the first day, it will not be an easy road for the Tigers as they will have to bat last against a varied spin department, having already conceded a competitive total.