Sakeb Subhan

Another fascinating day of Test cricket came to an end with Bangladesh perhaps slightly better placed, trailing England's first

Bangladesh may have finally settled upon the conditions and personnel to be genuinely competitive in Test matches at home,

In scorching conditions at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday, the Bangladesh training contingent

There is one statistic that is hard to ignore when looking at the two teams that will take the field for the first Test match at

With Bangladesh's season starting with the Afghanistan and England series, there was much hand-wringing over the long gaps between ODI and Test cricket.

England's final dress rehearsal for the first Test against Bangladesh on Thursday ended with a draw in the second two-day warm-up against BCB XI at the MA Aziz Stadium yesterday.

Of all the changes made to Bangladesh's Test squad, exciting young batsman Sabbir Rahman's inclusion for the first Test against England starting on Thursday in Chittagong is the one that seems most like natural progression, or as much as the stop-start nature of Bangladeshi Test cricket can allow.

Necessity and strategy combined to bring about a total of six changes and four new names to the Bangladesh squad for the first Test against England starting in Chittagong this Thursday.

“Has he played any four-day cricket?” was the slightly irritated answer from head coach Chandika Hathurusingha yesterday when asked

When Mashrafe Bin Mortaza played his heroic hand to club 44 in 29 deliveries to help Bangladesh score 75 crucial runs in the second ODI against England on Sunday, it was cause for joy for the home fans, not just because it put the Tigers back into the match and the series, but also as it bucked a recent trend of mediocrity.

In the 14th over of Bangladesh's chase yesterday, Sabbir Rahman hit a well timed pull that for all money seemed to be sailing over the

If the Bangladesh team management were looking for some answers ahead of the three-ODI series against England, the 14-

It took three attempts, but a so-far misfiring Bangladesh team finally came good with most of the departments clicking in the

Tamim Iqbal became the first Bangladesh batsman to score seven ODI centuries in yesterday's third ODI against Afghanistan which the

There was a reason why Bangladesh fans were so eager for the ODI series against Afghanistan and England to start, and that

In the immediate aftermath of a humbling defeat at the hands of Afghanistan, the image that immediately comes to mind is of

As Afghanistan's Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi were calmly resisting everything the Bangladesh bowlers were throwing at them during 144-run second-wicket partnership, it was hard to tell that the team doing the catching up were the overwhelming favourites coming into the three-match series.

The past week was a busy one in the world of sports with the start of the Euro 2016, continuation of the Copa America Centenario and records set in local hockey.

The sporting week that ended Sunday was one made poignant by the passing of the People's Champion, Muhammad Ali. That was swiftly followed by Novak Djokovic galloping away from the chasing pack by winning the French Open for the first time and in the process creating a host of records. For these and much more, read our weekly sports review.

It will be fair to say that Bangladesh cricket has not seen the likes of Mustafizur Rahman in its short history. It will be a little more contentious to say that the world has not seen a bowler like him in recent times.