Shoriful Islam (SI): It’s much better now. I feel a lot better. Hopefully the plaster will be removed by May 9 and then let’s see what happens.

England’s Joe Root came off a match-winning innings yesterday, having scaled the 10,000-run mark in his Test career during an incredible unbeaten 115 in the fourth innings against New Zealand.

Yasir Ali Chowdhury has shown great potential in his fledgling Test career and the right-hander is expected to play a big role in Bangladesh's middle-order on the tour of the West Indies as he fills a vacancy left by the absence of the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim. The 26-year-old, who will travel to the Caribbean today, spoke to The Daily Star's Mazhar Uddin before boarding a flight, discussing his plans and some other topics during an exclusive interview. The excerpts are below:

Mohammad Saifuddin had been rated as one of the few genuine seaming all-rounders that Bangladesh desperately need, especially in the limited over formats.

With the intention to enhance and improve the skills of the local coaches, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) conducted a six-day Level 2 coaching course at the home of cricket in Mirpur last week.

Proper grooming is crucial because all basic traits are absorbed during that budding phase, cricket experts remind, especially after national players miserably fail in terms of decision-making on the field. Bangladesh’s poor first-class cricket structure has often been identified as the main culprit behind the country’s struggles in five-day matches since its elevation to Test cricket in 2000.

During his playing days, Aftab Ahmed had been one of Bangladesh’s more courageous batters while the team were still finding their feet in the international Stage.

Mahmudul Hasan Joy’s inclusion in the Test side could help could be the answer to Bangladesh’s long search for an opening partner to Tamim Iqbal, with the youngster already showing glimpses of his ability in the longest format of the game.

Experienced Bangladesh national cricketer Imrul Kayes is far from being an unfamiliar figure when it comes to captaincy as the left-hander had successfully managed to twice lead Comilla Victorians to glory in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the country’s franchise-based T20 cricket competition, since he was appointed captain in 2019. 

The Bangladesh Cricket Board will be sending fewer personnel to the West Indies as a cost-cutting measure. The Daily Star learned that plans are for a few support staff to be excluded for the tour along with a selector and a pace bowler from the squad.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board said they have changed the date of the next Annual General Meeting (AGM) to July 19. The AGM’s main agenda will to approve the constitutional changes required to enact the Regional Cricket Association (RCAs). The AGM was initially scheduled to take place on July 26th but the date was changed as it clashed with ICC’s AGM on the same date.

The lack of a vice-captain in teams named by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had led many to question whether there is a plan in place to shape the future leadership. Finally, the board appointed wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das as deputy to Test captain Shakib Al Hasan ahead of the West Indies tour.

Bangladesh star cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is back to being the captain of the Bangladesh Test side while the in-form wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das is set to be the vice-captain, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan made the announcement during a press conference following a board meeting today.  

Bangladesh cricketer Mominul Haque's declaration to quit Test captaincy may not have shocked the cricketing fraternity, given his persisting off-form with the bat. However, those who have been following what Mominul had said of late, would know that the decision does guarantee a few raised eyebrows.  

In a normal cricket culture, this would not be an issue. Especially when a Test captain wants to resign, it is the captain who asks for the decision to be either made public or makes the announcement himself, preferably in a press conference in an official setting.

Bangladesh Test captain Mominul has decided to step down from his role as captain to focus on his batting, Mominul told the media today following a meeting at the BCB president Nazmul Hassan’s residence.

With the intention to strengthen the spin-bowling pipeline, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) cricket operations committee has initiated to hold a four-day training camp, under the guidance of Bangladesh spin-bowling coach Rangana Herath, starting from tomorrow.

Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan's availability before a series becomes a hot topic of discussion before every series. There are whisperings that Shakib could opt out of one of the formats in the upcoming series against West Indies.

With spinner Nayeem Hasan ruled out of the second Test following a fracture to his hand, all of a sudden the focus has turned to Mosaddek as a bowling option.

Right now, the ubiquitous buzzword in our cricket circuit is ‘mindset’. It seems all paths lead to that particular word in discussions about the problems surrounding the Bangladesh men’s national cricket team.