End of the line for Mominul?
It was expected that Bangladesh would make some changes for the second Test and while it was clear that Shoriful Islam would be a like-for-like replacement for left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, there were questions about who would lose a place to make room for Anamul Haque's comeback to the Test side after seven years.
The candidates were Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque, who rose to the fore as the weak links of the Tigers' batting unit.
It was a tough decision for the team management, but they probably made the right choice as skipper Shakib Al Hasan informed during the toss that the Tigers had excluded Mominul in order to make the two expected changes.
Just a solitary Test has passed between Mominul resigning from the captaincy to focus on batting to him losing his place in the playing eleven. While this is definitely not the end of his cricketing career, considering Mominul's form and the fact that his confidence appeared to be at an all-time low, it is at least a much-needed break for the left-hander.
Those factors may have made the decision tough but it was not exactly surprising, with Shakib hinting that players would need to perform in order to stay in the team. Replacing the struggling batsman for the second Test is also not something the team management will lose any sleep over.
Bangladesh's batting failures have been one of the team's major concerns recently. When asked which areas the batting department would like to focus on, Shakib replied: "Everything. Once we overcome the tough period, all our batters are capable of scoring big runs. We need to fight it out during this tough phase. Hopefully, it will be easier after that."
For Mominul, the writing was on the wall. Since scoring 88 and then an unbeaten 13 in the Mount Maunganui Test in New Zealand in January this year, his run of innings without a 50 has stretched to 11. In 2018, he endured a similar lean patch that saw him go eight innings without a 50. Mominul, who has 11 tons, the most by a Bangladeshi in Tests, used to have a batting average in the high 40s. Currently, he averages 37.54. He has not reached double digits in his last nine innings.
India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara endured a similar situation when he was enduring a lean patch. Interestingly, Indian selectors took the initiative to send the right-hander to take part in the English County league. Pujara eventually returned to the runs for Sussex before managing to make a comeback to the Test side.
As a single-format cricketer like Pujara, Mominul will find even less cricket on offer than others that are outside the national team. It will also be difficult for the left-hander to prove his worth and work on his mistakes in the domestic circuit, where he has hardly made an impact in the past.
The question now is how the Bangladesh think-tank will approach the situation with Mominul, who is regarded as one of Bangladesh's best Test batters.
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