Confident Shoriful leaves for St Lucia

Left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam will be joining the Bangladesh Test team in Saint Lucia for the second Test of the ongoing series against West Indies, scheduled to start on June 24.

Shoriful suffered an injury while batting during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Chattogram. A delivery from Kasun Rajitha struck him on his right hand, and later diagnosis revealed he had a fracture in his metacarpal bone.

The left-arm pacer missed out on the Dhaka Test and the first Test of the West Indies tour in Antigua. He was not initially picked for the Test side, but he is being sent to bolster the pace bowling unit.

“I came to know this (going to join the Test squad) last night. Papon sir (Nazmul Hassan, Bangladesh Cricket Board president) called me. I was mentally prepared to go. When he asked, I said that I would go,” Shoriful told the reporters at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Monday.

This will be Shoriful’s first endeavour in the Caribbeans and also the first encounter with the Dukes ball. The young pacer is very excited about the upcoming experiences.

“I am very thrilled. I wanted to go to West Indies someday and play Test cricket. Now I am finally going there. Let’s see what happens there. I am feeling better now (after recovering from injury), I am in good shape,” he told the media.

“I have never even held a Dukes ball but have heard so many things about it. I am very excited to get that in my hand,” added the pacer.

Shoriful watched the first Test and feels that bowling in the right areas will be key in the Caribbeans.

“So far, what I have seen, I think bowing in the right areas is very important. They (West Indies) used the trick, we also did the same thing. I will try to maintain line and length while bowling,” said the pace bowler.

Shoriful was supposed to join the team for the white-ball phase, but the team management want him in the team ahead of the second Test. He is the second cricketer to join the team after the initial announcement. Earlier, Anamul Haque was called in to replace the injured Yasir Ali.

Shoriful said that he did not get enough time for homework, though he has been training with the players of Bangladesh Tigers after the plaster was removed from his right hand.