Bangladesh’s break from Test cricket came as their top order was starting to show encouraging signs of solidity. The same top six will be on show against England. Can they find their groove again?
Mohammad Isam in Chittagong19-Oct-2016If England are to be given a fight over the five days in Chittagong, Bangladesh’s top six batsmen will have to be the ones at the forefront. They will have to attack, consolidate and defend whenever necessary and leave very little to do for the rest of the line-up that is filled with newcomers, those still raw at the top level and returnees.Since the first Test squad was announced earlier this week, there has been much discussion about the lack of experience among the four – Mehedi Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nurul Hasan and Kamrul Islam Rabbi – who never played Tests, and the other four – Soumya Sarkar, Shuvagata Hom, Shafiul Islam and Taijul Islam – who played so few. But the story should be about the six who have given this team the backbone by developing into the strongest batting line-up in their history.The initial thrust will be provided by Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh’s leading scorer in each format, who will renew the country’s most successful batting partnership for any wicket with the born-again Imrul Kayes. The talented but hardly used Mominul Haque comes at No. 3 to press on and consolidate with Mahmudullah, Bangladesh’s most versatile batsman. Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan will be expected to take advantage of their overall experience to push on from a good start or if things go wrong, stop a top-order collapse. They will also have to guide the middle to lower order for the rest of the innings.Both Tamim and Imrul are in good form, with Tamim now the leading scorer for Bangladesh in Tests and the first to reach 5,000 ODI runs. Over the last two years, his highlight has been a more mature approach off the field which has led to a fitter body and a freer mind. His 206 against Pakistan was a masterpiece in concentration as he pulled Bangladesh out of a potential defeat.His 312-run stand with Imrul in Khulna was the first 300-plus opening stand in the second innings of a Test. The pair has averaged nearly 50 per innings, and as much as it has to do with Tamim’s effervescence, Imrul has lately become a forceful character.Long known as the meek half of the batting pair, Imrul has come of age since that Khulna Test in which he kept wicket for 132 overs (in his first ever stint as a wicketkeeper after Mushfiqur had been injured) before hitting 150 in nearly six hours. He still lost his place in the limited-overs format with the emergence of Soumya but kept making runs in Tests and after the 2015 off-season training regime, Imrul has become a completely different batsman. He now tries to pose trouble to bowlers every ball, and found success against England during this tour with a century in the one-day warm match then another in the first ODI. It will be interesting to see how Tamim and Imrul can now go against England’s Test attack.Mominul, the left hander whose Test average hasn’t dropped below 50 since making his debut in 2013, should be provided some cushion as this will also be his first international cricket in 14 months, having now become a Test regular (or limited-overs outsider). He will have the hardest time among the top six given that he has only played 15 first-class matches during this time, though he has averaged 45.91.After Mominul comes Mahmudullah. In the gap between Bangladesh’s Tests, he has become the team’s main big hitter in T20s and in the last two years he has also made himself into the ODI side’s chief accelerator in the middle overs, in addition to his role of calming down the middle order in Tests. It is unlikely that Mahmudullah will confuse his roles in the three format, rather it could boost his run-making in Tests.His brother-in-law and the Test captain Mushfiqur will once again have a lot in his plate but he is the most experienced player in this squad. The burden of being the captain, wicketkeeper and middle-order dependable could weigh down on him but to keep the team on the right track, in the most challenging of situations, is what Mushfiqur trains so hard for, so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he thrives on the workload.Shakib will be the other senior player with a lot on his plate. He is the team’s only bowler of note, be it in a wicket-taking role or in restricting the scoring rate. It will not be possible for him to do both at the same time, but for most of his Test career, he has had little time between a marathon bowling spell and a batting stint. He would certainly hope to have less to do but that is unlikely given the make-up of the team.There won’t be any let-up in their responsibilities when they are not batting or bowling, too. Mushfiqur being the captain, will need to take extra care of all the youngsters. Tamim is known to take them under their wing while Shakib will remain the figurehead, the one they would be awed by, but someone whose one word of encouragement could spark something out of a debutant.All six of Bangladesh’s top order will have to play their part in seizing the key moments – passages of play, sessions or entire days if they can – if the team are to take control, but it is within their ability. They have always relished Test cricket, although hardly get play any these days. This series against England is a chance for them to show their development as cricketers and characters.
