Tamim and Tigers’ opening woes

The Bangladesh national cricket team are currently quarantining in New Zealand, ahead of their two-match Test series in January.

Since Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan’s debut, this is the first time Bangladesh are in New Zealand without them.

Unsurprisingly, they are the best batsmen for Bangladesh in New Zealand. Tamim has 622 runs in 13 innings in New Zealand at an average of 47.84.

Shakib, on the other hand, has 517 runs in eight innings in New Zealand, at an astounding average of 73.85. In 2017, he scored his first (and till date only) double-hundred in New Zealand.

In 2019, Shakib could not go to New Zealand due to a finger injury. This time around, he asked for a leave due to a family emergency.

Whereas Tamim, Bangladesh’s leading opener for more than a decade, will not be in this New Zealand tour for the first time in his career. He is recovering from a finger injury, and he is likely to be missed the most by the Tigers.

Shakib’s ability with both bat and ball is unique, but in Tests, the opening pair often creates a difference. And without Tamim, Bangladesh have struggled in that area the most.

In the last three years, Bangladesh have played 14 Tests. In these matches, Bangladesh have managed to win only two, both against Zimbabwe.

In these three years, Bangladesh have employed seven openers. These seven openers have scored went past the fifty-mark nine times. And quite astonishingly, Tamim has done it seven times, with Shadman Islam doing it twice. The other five? None.

Tamim has played eight Tests, scoring 739 runs at an average of 52.78. He has scored six fifties and one century, with the ton coming in New Zealand in 2019. Besides that, he has two scores of 90 and 92 this year.

Bangladesh’s second-best opener in this period has been Shadman Islam, with 421 runs at an average of 24.76 in nine Tests. He has one fifty and one century in this period, both coming this year.

Bangladesh have had little to no luck in another opener, Saif Hasan. The right-handed youngster has played six Tests and is yet to go past fifty once. He has an average of only 14.45, and his highest score is 43.

Bangladesh have used four other openers in this period, with none of them playing more than two matches. Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar played a couple each, managing only 21 and 30 runs respectively.

Liton Das opened once in this period where he scored just nine, and the other is Mahmudul Hasan, who debuted in the second Test of the two-match series against Pakistan.

Mahmudul’s debut as an opener brought questions, as he has scored runs from age levels to domestic cricket playing at no.3.

But after all, the stats show that none but Tamim could provide the Tigers with a good start in the last three years. In this period, Bangladesh have had only one fifty-plus opening stand without Tamim.

Now, Bangladesh are in New Zealand, where they have played 33 matches across three formats and have failed to win any of them. And if they want to, they would have to do it without their best opener.

Ahead of the series, Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud told the media that they would try to do well.

“I won’t say anything negative. We have played in New Zealand a lot of times, but could not express ourselves. The conditions there are tough for any Asian team. This is not an excuse, we will have to play good cricket.

“I am accepting that the conditions in New Zealand will be tough. We will have to regroup ourselves and try to do well. New players are coming, we are going through changing times. We will try to do well,” Mahmud hoped before leaving for New Zealand.

BCB President Nazmul Hassan talked about this opening problem saying that the team was going through a trial-and-error process.

“There wouldn’t be questions if the performances were good. The team is going through a trial-and-error process. Shadman has played a few innings. Saif has performed well in the domestic arena. Most of our players have not faced the world’s best bowlers, but they will now. You have to give a team time to get experienced. They asked for three months, I don’t want to disturb them. If they want to experiment, they can,” the BCB President said on Saturday.

But Bangladesh is running out of time. Tamim, who has been the country’s best opener for more than a decade, is in his last few years. And stats say they have already failed to give him a stable opening partner. And whether they can find a replacement is a bigger question for a few years on the way.