Will Domingo and Tigers walk the talk?

While fast bowlers have been playing a crucial role behind top teams around the world transforming into better Test units, the situation has not been the same in Bangladesh.

Life is not easy for fast bowlers here, with very little in the way of exposure or the assurance of being a true star in the most glamorous profession in the country.

If you are a seamer, you are an afterthought who has to try his utmost -- in the few overs you are deemed useful -- to extract some help from pitches that offer little purchase for bounce, pace or swing.

You will witness slow and low pitches that offer turn for spinners which often negate the need for a couple of genuine fast bowlers in the playing eleven, especially in the longest format of the game.

But priorities change when Bangladesh travel to places like Australia, New Zealand, England or South Africa. All of a sudden, everyone expects ill-prepared pacers to deliver. On most occasions, the lack of experience of bowling longer spells and the inability to make the most of favourable conditions that they rarely experienced before leads to pacers struggling overseas.

Ahead of the two-match Test series against the West Indies starting from February 3 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, the question once more is whether the seamers will be given sufficient exposure at home.

The Tigers' spin department with the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Miraz are expected to play a huge role on the ZACS pitch where visitors often struggle to tackle spin.

The last time Bangladesh played a Test match here against Afghanistan in 2019, the team management had not picked even one specialist pacer in the playing eleven.

Spinners dominated on the tailor-made track and Afghanistan rode on their star leg-spinner Rashid Khan's magic to win the game by a huge margin of 224 runs.

It has been a ploy of the Tigers to undo visitors with spin, but it proved to be their own undoing against Test newcomers Afghanistan. That helped give rise to the idea that Bangladesh need sporting tracks to do well both at home and abroad.

There were winds of change when new head coach Russell Domingo stressed the importance of creating a good cricket culture and emphasised having a good pace-bowling group.

Bangladesh fielded two pacers at home in Abu Jayed and Ebadot Hossain in the lone Test against Zimbabwe last year in Dhaka, which was also the last time the Tigers played the longest version of the game before the Covid-19 outbreak.

Jayed picked up four wickets in the first innings and bowled 24 overs while Ebadot remained wicketless after bowling 17 overs.

Priorities changed once more as the pitch was offering huge turn and very little for seamers in the second innings. Jayed bowled just four overs and Ebadot bowled five as the spinners did the trick , picking up nine wickets and eventually delivering a 106-run win.

The selectors included six seamers in the 20-member preliminary squad for the upcoming the West Indies series. Jayed and Ebadot being the two-Test specialists, the likes of Mustafizur Rahman, Khaled Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, and young Hasan Mahmud are also there vying for spots. The right moves have so far been made, in line with the coach's intentions, but will the team management take the bold step of including three pacers in the eleven?

Apart from the uncapped Mahmud, the remaining five seamers have played 35 Tests combined, which reflects the pace story of Bangladesh.

India has effected a big change by encouraging pacers, giving them opportunities and preparing sporting wickets at home over the last five years.

Will the Tigers' think tank take up that challenge or play safe again?