Bangladesh are set to embark on a month-long tour in the West Indies this month to test their skills in all three formats against the home side, once an undisputed powerhouse of the game.

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:

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has backed Joe Root to surpass Sachin Tendulkar as Test cricket's leading run scorer even though the England batter is still nearly 6,000 short of the Indian great's haul.

England captain Ben Stokes and predecessor Joe Root led a thrilling rally on Saturday to set up a dramatic finish to the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's.

Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell were both eyeing coveted hundreds at Lord's after batting New Zealand into a commanding position on Friday's second day of the first Test against England.

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. 

For the cricket fans in general, it was surprising to see a formidable Test side like New Zealand suffer a batting collapse in the manner they did against England in the Lord’s Test yesterday, and that too after having elected to bat first. However, when it came to the Bangladeshi audiences, one incident during the end of the visitors’ innings perhaps had warranted a higher element of surprise.

A familiar England batting collapse left the hosts 16 runs behind New Zealand as wickets tumbled on a frantic first day of the opening test at Lord's on Thursday.

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.  

Liton Das attained career-best ratings in Tests after remaining instrumental with the bat in Bangladesh's recently-concluded two-Test series against Sri Lanka at home. 

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.

There was not any significant difference between hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in terms of international experience as the two subcontinental rivals locked horns in a two-match Test series within the past two weeks.

Premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said that Bangladesh are one of the fittest teams in Tests. 

Bangladesh may not have an impressive Test records in the last 15 Test they played, having won only three matches where two of them came against the lowly ranked Zimbabwe. However, two Bangladesh batters have been exceptional during this period and find themselves on top in two separate lists.

“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.

Liton Das has been the name of a revolution for Bangladesh over the past one year or so as the elegant right-hander keeps taking his game to greater heights with commendable consistency.