Mushfiqur to give up keeping?
Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim may not don the wicket-keeping gloves during the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. The decision was reportedly taken during a team meeting on Tuesday.
“Mushfiqur may not keep in the Tests against Sri Lanka. He may bat up the order as well. We spoke to him during a team meeting yesterday and he took the decision quite positively. We spoke to him and we gave him examples of other batsmen, like Kumar Sangakkara, who did extremely well in Test cricket after quitting keeping,” team manager Khaled Mahmud told The Daily Star yesterday.
“He is our best batsman and we want him to bat up the order. He understands that this decision is for the sake of the team and he took it sportingly,” he added.
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While Mushfiqur's keeping in the ODIs did not seem to concern the team management in the recent past, his role behind the stumps has repeatedly received attention in the longer version. There have been a number of times when he missed easy opportunities and the missed stumping in the last Test against India raised calls for a specialist wicketkeeper.
He is also technically Bangladesh's best batsman in the longer version and as such the team management wants him to focus completely on his batting. Against New Zealand, he injured his thumb while scoring a brilliant century in the first innings. However, he could not keep in the rest of the series because of the injury and Bangladesh were forced to employ the likes of Imrul Kayes and Sabbir Rahman -- neither of whom keep in domestic cricket -- to take the gloves.
Imrul took over Mushfiqur's gloves and kept for most of the game. However, he got injured in the second innings and in a recent interview admitted that the long keeping stint could have been a reason.
Prior to Bangladesh's departure to Sri Lanka, Mushfiqur and the national selectors were repeatedly asked if there would be a new keeper in the Bangladesh team for the Sri Lanka series. Mushfiqur had said that he would want to continue keeping provided that the team management supports him.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin and BCB cricket operations chairman Akram Khan, on the other hand, said that the decision with regards to Mushfiqur's keeping rested completely upon the captain himself.
“Whether we choose a new keeper or not depends on Mushfiqur. If he feels that he is capable to keep behind the stumps, we won't even explore the matter,” Akram had said.
However, it seems as though the team management in Sri Lanka, including head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and Khaled Mahmud, have decided to travel a different path.
The question that remains is who will Liton Das, the only other keeper in the squad, replace? If Mushfiqur plays up the order, then he is likely to take up Mahmudullah Riyad's position at four. Will Riyad be dropped? Or will he go back to his former position and play lower down the order. If not, then Sabbir Rahman might be sacrificed. Either way, Bangladesh will have to take the tough decision of tinkering with their settled batting order.
At the moment, the axe seems likely to fall on Riyad, who has not been in good form in the longer version recently.
“We will decide who Liton will replace after the practice match. We still have time for that,” said Mahmud, when asked about the upcoming batting combination.
Going by Mahmud's statement, one could presume that Mushfiqur may not keep in today's practice match against Sri Lanka Cricket Board XI either. 12 out of the 16 players will be playing in the warm-up.
There is a high chance that Bangladesh's senior players, the likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim may not feature in the warm-up game.
While Bangladesh could not train on Tuesday due to inclement weather, they had a good outing yesterday.
“We had a full day's training. It was solid. The players were up to their respective tasks. They all performed their disciplines properly. The weather here is a bit cloudy, but otherwise it's fine,” said Mahmud.
After the warm-up game at Moratuwa, the first Test will begin at the Galle International Cricket Stadium on March 7. The second Test, which will be Bangladesh's 100th, will begin on March 15 at the P Sara Oval.