Abdullah Al Mehdi

Bangladesh appear to be the fifth-best among the top five teams heading into the Asia Cup tournament.

T20I skipper for just a series, Nurul Hasan Sohan's injury triggered chaos and exposed the lack of clarity in the decision-making of the Bangladesh national team's think tank once again.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) arranged a get-together and lunch for cricketers at a city hotel today and, although members of the team management downplayed the significance of the ‘special’ lunch ahead of the Tigers’ tour of Zimbabwe, scraping past the surface the motive may have been to communicate some issues to the senior stars who might have been left a bit disappointed with the BCB’s refurbishment of the T20I line-up for the upcoming T20I series.

Legendary Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram was in favour of scrapping the ODI format as Test and T20 cricket gain more ground across the world, fueling the flames of the ODI format’s uncertain future that came to the fore when England’s Ben Stokes recently chose to retire from the 50-over game.

It has long been understood that Bangladesh find it easier to meet the challenges of the ODI format.

Following the T20 World Cup debacle in the UAE last year, there were talks in the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) hierarchy about finding a new direction for the T20I team.

The last time Bangladesh played a Test series in West Indies, Kemar Roach hobbled away to a fifer, conceding just eight runs in Antigua, the

Usually, when a new Test captain is appointed, the first focus is on the direction he wants to take the team. But Bangladesh’s newly instated captain is yet to speak about his plans for the team or the brand of cricket he wants to see it play.

Spin coach Rangana Herath is conducting a four-day spin camp with 32 spinners in order to strengthen the spin-bowling pipeline. It became apparent that there was a lack of spinners around the periphery of the national team when Bangladesh played the recent Dhaka Test against Sri Lanka with four front-line bowlers despite Shakib Al Hasan being there. Mosaddek Hossain came in as a batter who can bowl and the burden of majority of the overs fell on Taijul Islam and Shakib.

“He has a deeper understanding of his game and that is making the difference,” Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, a long-term mentor to Mushfiqur Rahim, said about one of his favourite students while talking to The Daily Star yesterday.

The first Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ended in a draw, as expected due to the nature of the wicket, a flat surface which showed little wear and tear over the course of five days.

Hometown hero Tamim Iqbal was a class apart at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram yesterday and the most remarkable aspect of his innings was the necessary poise and comfort he displayed during his 133 run-knock in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

“It’s always tough when you are injured but I tried to adapt,” Nayeem Hasan said with a smile that did not altogether conceal his boyish charm during the press conference in Chattogram yesterday.

Shakib Al Hasan and a few others raised a hand in the air directed towards the sky during the practice session yesterday, pointing out the rain clouds but by then the cloud of Shakib’s unavailability had left the side.

Bangladesh Cricket Board's High Performance (HP) team's scheduled tour of Ireland had been pushed to next year due to the host board's international commitments, while the ongoing financial crisis in Sri Lanka had seen the SLC unable to host Bangladesh HP this year as well.

Bangladesh paceman Taskin Ahmed left for England today to get an assessment of the back injury he incurred during the series against South Africa. Taskin’s injury saw him sit out of the second Test in South Africa and he was subsequently ruled out for the upcoming Test series at home against Sri Lanka, slated to begin with the first Test at Chattogram from May 15.

Since the onset of the pandemic late in 2019, the cricketing world have adjusted to the protocols suggested by health officials to curb the spread of the virus during international series and Bangladesh have been no different in that regard.

Test cricket is a game of aggression, a game where mindset, technique and mental strength become equally important over five days.

After a few overs had been bowled in the third session, wicketkeeper Liton Das was captured by the stump mic telling Mehedi Hasan Miraz ‘don’t give away runs’.

While Bangladesh fans are allowing themselves a rare moment of joy after the Tigers’ historic ODI series triumph in South Africa, the focus yesterday turned sharply back to the domestic circuit for all the wrong reasons.