Home ›› 14 Jun 2023 ›› Sport
Four years back, when Bangladesh National Cricket Team took on Afghanistan for the first time in their Test history, a win for the Tigers was not on the forecast.
It happened, though. At the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, the pitch produced turn, Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan ran away with 11 wickets, and Bangladesh succumbed to a massive 224-run defeat.
That is probably decided what the plan of attack would be against the visitors in the one-off Test starting today as Bangladesh are aiming at blowing away the Afghans with their pace attack.
At least the pitch suggests so. The pitch showed thinner levels of grass on Tuesday compared to Monday, still, the green tinge was visible, and along that a predictable assumption that the pitch would help the seamers, at least early on.
“We have fast bowlers. So, we need to give them a condition that suits their strength. We have good spinners as well. So, this game is only starting as a green wicket. You know that with this heat it’ll deteriorate very quickly, and then it’ll help the spinners in the latter parts of the game. So, I think this pitch is a good sporting wicket for everybody, the batter, bowlers – fast bowlers and spinners. So, I’d like to see a good contest,” Bangladesh head coach Hathurusinghe made his assumptions on the pitch pretty clear.
Bangladesh are set to field an XI with five bowlers, as per skipper Liton Das, for whom the Test is special as it is the one where he becomes the Tigers’ 12th Test captain.
Among those five bowlers, three are set to be pacers, although Hathurusinghe left some mystery saying they can even play four, reinstating once again Bangladesh’s desire to hit the Afghans with their pace.
“We have now about seven-eight bowlers that we can pick any time. So, the fast-bowling unit, whoever has done work in the past, has done a really good job. And they have come leaps and bounds and I’m confident that whether we go three or four, we never know tomorrow,” the Sri Lankan said in a press conference.
Rashid not playing depletes the Afghan bowling attack and inexperienced spinners on a pace-friendly wicket might give Bangladesh an upper hand but it also brings forth the problem of facing new bowlers with little to no idea about them.
No Rashid, different fears
This doubt regarding the new bowling attack, which includes 19-year-old wrist spinner Izharulhaq Naveed, was put forth by Liton, and Hathurusinghe accepted the situation.
However, the Bangladesh head coach said that their main focus was on themselves rather than the Afghans.
“Most of their players, we don’t know much about them. Anyway, we take a look at the opposition’s strengths and limitations. But more like 25% we focus on them. 75% - we focus on what we do. We don’t know (about their bowlers), so we can’t control that,” he said.
While admitting replacing Rashid is difficult, Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan’s head coach, said that the youngsters will have to face the challenge.
“There’s a lot of guys who haven’t been involved in ODIs, not that much or not at all. So international cricket is pretty new for them as well. It is exciting but a challenge for them too. It is going to be tough certainly at the Test stage. Coming to Bangladesh, it is always a challenge for any cricket team,” he said.
Bangladesh are also without their regular Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan, and Tamim Iqbal and Taskin Ahmed are doubts too.
Tamim, Taskin injury woes
Tamim struggled with his back pain on Sunday and on Tuesday, he batted for around half an hour, and his future for the upcoming Test is still in the air, and the head coach did not clear much up in the morning.
“I think he (Tamim) is going to train today (Tuesday) and see how he feels. He trained the day before and he had some discomfort when he was doing certain disciplines, fielding and batting. So, he’s going to train today and we will assess him after training,” Hathurusinghe said.
Taskin, who is returning from a side strain, has been bowling in the nets for a few days now but the Sri Lankan did not clear up whether the pacer would be fit for playing either.
“Physically, I think he’s in the best condition we all have seen. And then, if he will be ready to go and if we decided to play him, there’s nothing stopping him at the moment. Bowling workload is the one little bit of concern we had. So again, we will assess after today’s training and then make up our minds,” he said.
Possible XI
Bangladesh are set to go in with three pacers and two seamers, with Mahmudul Hasan Joy partnering up with Zakir Hasan in case Tamim misses out.
Bangladesh XI: Zakir Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das (C & WK), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Khaled Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed/Mushfik Hasan
Afghanistan are likely to field three spinners in Naveed, Amir Hamza, and Zahir Khan.
Afghanistan XI: Ibrahim Zadran, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Bahir Shah, Karim Janat, Afsar Zazai (WK), Amir Hamza, Yamin Ahmadzai, Izharulhaq Naweed, Zahir Khan
