Bangladesh cricket team is on a roll with the amount of Test cricket it is playing. After sealing an epoch-making 2-0 win against Pakistan in a two-match Test series at the former’s home turf, Bangladesh are gearing up to take on the Indian team in a two-match Test series starting from 19th September. The Test series will be followed by three T20Is which will be Bangladesh’s first white-ball fixtures after the T20 World Cup.
To play against India, the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led team has decided to stay unchanged to keep up with the morale impetus after the series win. However, Shoriful Islam will not be joining the team as he recovers from a groin injury he picked in the first Test against Pakistan. The same groin injury saw him sidelined for the second Test match as well.
The team’s selector, Hannan Sarkar provided an update on Shoriful Islam’s injury and assured that the 23-year-old batter will remain a part of future plans.
“Shoriful isn’t 100 per cent fit for Test matches. He would be required to bowl 15-20 overs so we didn’t want to take a risk. Shoriful missed the second Test against Pakistan due to his injury. The physios and trainers are looking after him. He remains within the system. He is an important member of our white-ball team. We have a T20 series coming up against India.”
In his place, Bangladesh has scouted wicket-keeper batter, Jaker Ali, who will be making a debut in Tests against India. Ali played a monumental inning against Pakistan A in Islamabad in the second First-class game. The right-handed batter scored 172 runs to help Bangladesh A put 404 on the scoreboard. He was selected ahead of Shahadat Hossain for the tour and it turned out to be a good decision for Bangladesh.
“We picked Jaker Ali as a middle-order batter. We considered the conditions and opponents for this decision. We had taken five pacers in Pakistan, but we are taking four to India. We had taken Dipu (Shahadat Hossain) in place of Shakib or Mushfiqur previously. I wouldn’t say he played really well, but he also didn’t do badly.” Bangladesh’s selector said.
Further explaining the reason behind getting Jaker on board, Sarkar said,
“We have taken into account recent performance. Dipu played four-day matches in Australia and Pakistan. He isn’t in rhythm. His form is very important when he is going to play international matches. Dipu is part of our future plans. He is now preparing to play in the NCL. Jaker can be a useful player in the longer version if you consider his record in domestic first-class cricket. He played a splendid innings in Pakistan recently, batting for a long time. This is what kept Jaker a step ahead.”
India have already announced their 16-member squad for the first Test match against Bangladesh which will be played in Chennai.
Bangladesh squad for Indian Test tour
Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana, Taijul Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Nayeem Hasan, Khaled Ahmed
