The Test Debut Team
At last the opening pair, of Opee and Bidyut, returned to the team. Although
the team looks very balanced, questions were raised about the exclusion of
Habibul Bashar Sumon, one of the most reliable player in the team. Despite his
failure in South Africa, Sumon is an outstanding player for the Dhaka pitches.
He proved himself time and again with his consistent performance for the
national team. Unfortunately, he has a history of being ignored by the selectors
every time the country takes on a new tour.
Veteran left arm spinner Enamul Haque Moni was another casualty with
all-rounder Mushfiq Babu and opener Seezan being dropped out of the team that
toured Africa with the team. Seezan's exclusion was expected as Bangladesh
already has three experienced openers in the team. The poor guy did not get to
play a single game in the whole tour. Mushfiq failed to impress the selectors
while Moni lost out to Rafique. Rafique took 5 wickets and scored a half-century
in the four day match in South Africa. Moni managed only a single wicket.
Opee and Bidyut will join Golla for the opening slot. It is not sure if the
selectors would play all three, which would certainly be a wiser thing to do.
With Sumon out of the team, Rokon looks set to come in at number three. Rokon
hit form in the recent tour of South Africa and Kenya but he has the same
problem as most of his teammates - inconsistency.
Akram Khan and Bulbul have a strong claim in the middle-order. Akram hit his
maiden first-class century in the four-day match against Griqualand last month
while Bulbul has failed to live upto expectation in the recent times but you can
always count on him to play his best against the Indians. Durjoy is yet to prove
himself in the longer version of the game but he might have to come in at number
six and rescue the team if the top-order fails.
Both Rafique and Pilot proved themselves as useful bats down the order. Pilot
scored a century against MCC early this year and have scored close to 400 runs
so far. Rafique has half-centuries in both one-day and first-class matches.
Rafique's left arm spin will probably hold the key for Bangladesh with India
having a number of left hand batsmen in the team.
Back to the three openers, if the selectors choose to play all three openers
as they should, there will be a little change in the above line-up with Golla or
Opee coming in somewhere in the middle.
With bowling being our weakest link, it should be interesting to see what
line-up the selector's would go with. They might go with Shanto and Bikash/Manju
with Sumit filling in as the off-spinner. While Shanto is almost certain to open
the attack, Bikash and Manju will the whole week to change the selector's minds.
Rajin Saleh is a mystery to many. Rajin represented the country in the
Under-19 world cup and frankly some of his teammates did more then him.
Fortunately for Rajin, the selector's have faith in his fielding abilities and
the indication is that Rajin will come in as the 12th player (ie. substitute
fielder) for the test match.
Bangladesh Team:
Javed Omar Belim Golla, Mehrab Hussain
Opee, Shahriar Hussain Bidyut, Al-Shariar Rokon, Aminul Islam Bulbul, Akram Khan, Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Khaled Mashud
Pilot, Mohammed Refique, Fahim Muntasir
Sumit, Hasibul Hussain Shanto, Bikash
Ranjan Das, Manjurul Islam
Manju, Rajin Saleh, Habibul
Bashar Sumon, Enamul Haq
Moni,
