A thumping victory over Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Mirpur saw Bangladesh batters Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque gain significantly in the ICC Test batters rankings.

When Tests come as sporadically as they do for Bangladesh and when you are a one-format player passionate about Tests, getting into a groove can be difficult.

Mominul and Shanto have some similarities when it comes to dealing with criticism and overcoming tough periods in their career.

Mominul went more than two years without getting a Test century, having scored 11 hundreds in the first eight years of his Test career.

Mominul Haque, the batter who joined Shanto in the middle after Zakir’s dismissal, had the feat of scoring two centuries in the same Test. Mominul had scored 175 and 106 in the same Test against Sri Lanka in Chattogram back in 2018.

This time last year, Mominul Haque had just come back from South Africa as the Test captain and played a Dhaka Premier League match on the same day of his return, while harbouring hopes of taking the national team to the next level in Tests. One year later, Mominul is not the Test captain anymore. This time, Mominul’s team Rupganj Tigers played their last match of the Dhaka Premier League having finished just outside the top six. Scanning from outside the dressing room, Mominul appeared to be ‘well inside’ the hut. A call or two later, he would agree to a meetup for a minute’s talk which turned into a discussion on Test cricket.

Loneliness during bad patches in top-level cricket often does not come into the spotlight. It is an issue Virat Kohli had spoken about recently.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Wednesday included the likes of Mominul Haque, Taijul Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, and Anamul Haque as it announced the BCB XI squad for their upcoming tour of India this month.

For Bangladesh, things have been chaotic in Tests and T20Is both on and off the field lately. The Test and T20I sides have seen sudden change in leadership, with Mominul Haque and Mahmudullah Riyad being stripped of captaincy of the Test and T20Is respectively.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon admitted that the issue of Mahmudullah Riyad's T20I captaincy has come up in the media as the captain has been not amongst the runs but opined that changing captaincy at this moment will not bring immediate results.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board today declared two separate squads of the Bangladesh A team who are set to tour the Caribbean in August to play two four-day 'Tests' and three one-day matches against West Indies A.

Bangladesh’s batters had shown the approach needed in Tests in alien conditions during their win in Mount Maunganui in January this year and executed a plan as a unit against the Kiwis, who boast arguably the best pace attack in the world in their home conditions.

Mominul Haque not finding runs has become a major issue for Bangladesh going forward as the St. Lucia Test looms on the horizon.

Bangladesh Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan said he had no explanation for the batting debacles after Bangladesh were bowled out for just 103 runs in 32.5 overs on day one of the first Test at Antigua against the West Indies.

Ahead of Bangladesh’s two-Test series against the West Indies, all eyes were on the Tigers’ top-order in their three-day warm-up game against CWI President’s XI in Antigua that concluded yesterday. However, other than Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten 162, there weren’t many highlights for the Tigers in the batting department.

Bangladesh’s star opener Tamim Iqbal hit a hundred, but struggling left-handed batter Mominul Haque could not even open his account on the opening day of their ongoing three-day warm-up match against CWI President’s XI at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua today. 

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 team director Khaled Mahmud said that Shakib Al Hasan was keener on playing Tests now that other formats.

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.