Bangladesh team management is in dilemma with the opening pair in the upcoming one-off Test match against Afghanistan as regular opener Tamim Iqbal took a break from the series to overcome the mental and physical fatigue following a poor run of form.
Tamim’s absence in the series is particularly a blow for Bangladesh, considering the fact that apart from him, no one can quite cement his place in the country’s Test team as an opener.
In the last three matches, Shadman Islam Onik played as his opening partner and didn’t fare badly as he showed a great composure, required to be a proper Test batsman.
However, with only three matches under his belt, he (Shadman) is still too young for Test cricket which prompted team management ponder whether they would go for an experience opening batsman alongside him or experiment with young player in a bid to prepare a new Test opener.
With other positions looked settled in longer version, the opening position seemed to be a lone headache for the team management right at the moment as they have planned to announce the Test squad in August 30 or 31.
The Test squad will travel to Chittagong on September 1, to play the lone Test against Afghanistan, slated to begin on September 5-9.
“Our regular opener Tamim is not playing in this series. He is our one of the most experienced and proven players. And we had Shadman Islam who played well too. But who is going to replace him (Tamim) in this series, we haven’t thought about it. We are discussing whether we should introduce someone new or we should see an old player in opening position,” Bangladesh team selector Habibul Bashar Sumon said here on Monday.
“He (Shadman) has been with the team for last few series and he did not play bad. But he is still young. He just started, because Tamim was with him he did not feel much pressure. So, we will see whether we can put some pressure on him now or we may pick one experienced player so that we can fit experienced and young pair. We are discussing about these matters, that’s why we are being late to announce the squad.”
If Bangladesh decides about experience, they might bring back Imrul Kayes or Soumya Sarkar in this position again. Jahurul Islam Omee though is not young player, he hasn’t played any International cricket since 2014 but he is in the selection radar. The selectors also discussed about some new faces.
Bashar said the selection panel had already talked to Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan and head coach Russell Domingo about the squad.
“We had our initial meeting with captain and coach on our Test squad. We have a draft how it (squad) will be, we are taking time because we will be playing at home. Maybe we will discuss on August 30 or 31.”
“Because we have just one Test, the squad might be with 14. As we don’t have any other matches, we may include one or two players extra who will be playing one-day but not Test. So, we might include one or two extra players so that they can practice with the team. We have not decided yet but it may be 14 to 16.”
