Minhajul Abedin informed that the possibility of Tamim Iqbal making a comeback through the second Test against the West Indies is slim
Bangladesh national chief selector Minhajul Abedin is eyeing a 2-0 Test series win against the West Indies.
The Tigers made a flying start to the series with a dominating 64-run win in the first game in Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Saturday.
The rare victory for the Tigers against the Caribbean side in the format had come primarily because of the performance of the Bangladesh spinners on a turning track.
With a more difficult and unpredictable wicket being expected in Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium for the second and final Test, Minhajul is confident of a possible outcome, but has a worry with the opening batsmen.
With prominent opener Tamim Iqbal missing from action due to a side strain injury, the last six Test innings saw two opening combinations.
The Liton Das-Imrul Kayes combo in the previous series, against Zimbabwe, had failed in three off the four innings.
The duo had produced its best performance with a 56-run partnership in the second innings of the first Test.
But this went in vain as Bangladesh conceded a humiliating defeat.
In the Windies series, the Bangladesh selection panel made a change by taking Liton out and bringing in left-handed batsman Soumya Sarkar to partner Imrul in the first Test.
Bangladesh won the game but the changed opening stand could only produce 13 runs.
“It indeed has become a concern to be honest. The top order is not playing well and the middle order is not consistent. So there is a regular concern with batting. We are playing on low bouncy wickets, and being able to score around 250 runs is getting us a good result but the top order batting remains a concern. We are discussing about it and looking forward to the upcoming matches. We have an away series following this one (against the West Indies). So we are planning accordingly,” said Minhajul to the media in Mirpur Sunday.
The former Bangladesh captain informed that the possibility of Tamim making a comeback through the second Test against the Windies is slim.
Tamim had recovered well from a broken index finger but then picked up a side strain to further delay his expected comeback through the first Test against the Caribbean side.
The left-handed batsman had a medical scan at a city hospital Sunday.
“We are yet to get a full update from the physio [Thihan Chandramohan]. He (Tamim) is recovering well. We hope he will be available for the ODI series, if not for the second Test,” said Minhajul.
Meanwhile, the national selection panel has submitted a 15-member Bangladesh U-23 squad for the upcoming ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2018.
Featuring eight teams, the tournament will be jointly hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka from December 6 to 15.
Bangladesh are in Group B and will play all their group stage matches in Karachi, against home side Pakistan, Hong Kong and the UAE.
The four Test-playing nations in the tournament are in the shape of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and they can field two national team players.
Source: Dhaka Tribune.
