Selectors in a massive controversy on Saturday omitted country’s one of the finest Test batsmen Mominul Haque from the Bangladesh squad for the first Test against Australia, beginning in Dhaka on August 27.
Speculation was rife that Mominul would be dropped from the squad along with batsman Mahmudullah ever since selectors had overlooked them for a two-day practice match earlier this week.
While it was always expected that Mahmudllah would face the axe after a prolonged bad patch in longer-version, Mominul’s exclusion hardly had any logic, especially to his fans.
Mominul has the highest Test average (46.88) among all Bangladeshi batsmen who batted in at least 20 innings and scored a very crucial half-century in Bangladesh’s last home Test win against England in October.
Bangladesh collapsed to be dismissed for 220 runs after his 170-run second wicket stand with Tamim Iqbal ended in Mirpur, which underlined the significance of 66 runs he made in the innings.
His performance, however, deserted him in the away matches that followed as he could score only 138 runs in six innings at 23, something which the selectors used as a tool to axe him.
But his extraordinary record in home condition, his contribution in last home Test match and his overall average could do nothing to convince the selectors, who appeared to have only fulfilled a wish of coach Chandika Hathurusinghe.
‘You cannot ask me like this about a batsman, we have head coach here, he can be asked,’ said a bemused chief selector Minhajul Abedin in the face of barrage of questions, while announcing one of the most controversial squads in Bangladesh’s Test history.
‘You are not looking at his stats… last one year his average came down to 28. The way he started his career could not continue like this,’ said Minhajul brushing aside his Bradman-like average in home Tests not in a very distant past.
‘The team management have certain plan about certain player. We decided the team after consulting the team management. The head coach has a desire. Now if you ask me about just one player it is not possible to answer,’ he said.
Minhajul argued that Mominul came down in the packing order because Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar were doing well in his position.
‘Soumya scored fifties in four of the last eight Test innings, his average was 45.75 there. Mominul therefore came down in the priority list. Imrul was also doing well in home matches… Mominul was not picked for the first Test did not mean his career ended here,’ he said.
In another unexpected move, selectors also brought back batsman Nasir Hossain, who last played a Test match in 2015 and averaged little over 30 in last domestic first-class competition Bangladesh Cricket League.
Minhajul said that they took Nasir because team needed someone with a proven ability to bat down the order and bowl off-spin but coach Hathurusinghe insisted that he was taken mostly as back-up to Mosaddek Hossain, who was suffering from eye infection.
Shafiul Islam also returned to the side after a five-for in a recent warm-up that cost Subashish Roy a place in the squad.
Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim ( capt), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar , Imrul Kayes, Lion Das, Sakib al Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Source: New Age
