Another Test, another opening pair

Bangladesh will field a new opening pair in the second Test of their two-match Tests series at Dhaka starting today, as opener Saif Hasan has been ruled out due to his Typhoid infection.

It might hand youngster Mahmudul Hasan his Test debut, as Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque hinted at using a left-right combination at the top.

“Opening combination could be lefty-righty,” Mominul said in the pre-match press conference on Friday.

As Shadman Islam, a left-handed batsman is already in the XI, Mahmudul might get his Test cap today. The other option would be left-handed Mohammad Naim, whose call-up was a surprise as he has played only six longer-format matches and averages only 16 in red-ball cricket.

Mominul explained their choice of picking Naim saying that they did not have quality backup openers and Naim had experience in international cricket.

“We don’t have enough openers. Naim is someone who has been playing international cricket regularly. He has played T20s recently, which is why he missed a lot of first-class cricket. We wanted an opener who has been playing international cricket. An opener from domestic cricket would have a tough time adjusting to this situation. We also have to consider the New Zealand tour,” Mominul said.

He also said that they did not want to experiment by bringing in young players.

“We are not experimenting by bringing in younger players. We replaced Tamim bhai who is injured. Naim has come in as backup for New Zealand. Rabbi played the first Test in Shakib bhai’s place. Riyad bhai has retired. You have to take new players. We don’t have a lot of performing players,” he said.

Despite that, if either Mahmudul or Naim makes their way into the playing XI, it will be Bangladesh sixth opening stand in their last 11 Tests.

Bangladesh began their first World Test Championship final with a two-match Test series against India. In those Tests, Shadman and Imrul Kayes opened the batting for the Tigers. Saif Hasan and Tamim Iqbal’s opening stand, a left-right partnership, has been implemented the most as these pair featured in four Tests. Bangladesh have had five openers play during this period, with Soumya Sarkar just playing one and Imrul two.

With all this chopping and changing, Bangladesh’s opening pairs have struggled to give them a good start as the Tigers have had no three-figure opening stand in Tests in these matches.

With Tamim Iqbal out with an injury, Bangladesh have a big hole up their order. And all these seem like desperate attempts to fill that hole for the time being, with whatever resources they have in hand.