Tigers mull changes

Bangladesh cricketers Imrul Kayes (R) and Shamsur Rahman arrive at the team hotel yesterday, ahead of Tuesday's second Test against Sri Lanka in Chittagong. The two openers will fight for the same spot as Shamsur failed to impress in the first Test. Photo: Star

The Bangladesh and Sri Lanka cricket teams reached Chittagong yesterday amid tight security to play the second Test of the two-match series, which will be followed by two T20 Internationals, at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Smarting from a massive innings and 248-run defeat in the first Test at Mirpur, the Tigers will be looking for a major turnaround in the second Test starting from February 4, to prove to themselves that the first Test was just a minor blip in a period of growth going back one and a half years.
Mushfiqur Rahim's men must have learnt the lessons of their poor batting approach in the first Test, because of which they lost control of the game from as early as the first day. A new opener, Shamsur Rahman, was given a debut but the right-hander failed to impress. But the line of thinking in the team think-tank has been that it would be unwise to drop a batsman after just one bad performance. Set against that logic is the experience of the left-handed Imrul Kayes, who was once a regular in the Test setup. The management will have to decide whether it is the experience of Imrul they go with or whether Shamsur's promise will win the day.
A change in the bowling combination, which conceded 730 for six in the first Test, is likely. The team management is likely to go with their traditional spin-heavy attack instead of a three-pronged pace attack and in that case Mahmudullah Riyad may come into the team in the place of a pace bowler to bolster the batting line-up as well as the spin attack.
Our Chittagong correspondent added: the local administration provided the level-1 security to the visiting side Sri Lanka team as they reached Chittagong yesterday afternoon. The teams were escorted with heavy security on their way from the airport to Hotel Peninsula where special security measures have been taken.
“Level-1 security is being provided to the Sri Lankan team. We are giving the highest concentration in assuring security to Sri Lankan team in Chittagong,” said Banaj Kumar Majumder, additional commissioner (crime and operation) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP).